Yabbies: a crustacean with a difference

摘要

The humble yabby which is found in many farm dams is becoming a popular alternative source of on-farm income. Western Australia leads the way in yabby production in Australia, but changes to government legislation in Victoria and NSW are likely to see a large increase in yabby production in these states in the next few years. The main challenge facing the yabby industry is the development of a production base large enough to provide continuity of supply on the domestic and export markets. The export market potential for Australia appears bright. Australia is one of the few countries in the world not affected by crayfish plague which has wiped out much of the European native crayfish population. Australia also has the capacity to supply yabbies upto 120 grams in size through larger crayfish species such as red claw crayfish (produced in Queensland and the Northern Territory) and marron. By comparison, the main overseas produced crayfish, the United States crayfish, reaches a maximum size of about30g.