Posted by Mark Roberts on 24/9/2007, 8:49 am, in reply to "Re: Crabs"
From my limited experience in BOP, I'd say the crab problem there is much less severe than around Napier. All HB is not the same. Many beaches around Wairoa are relatively free of crabs, and these yield more snapper than the Napier beaches. Are the snapper, gurnard and lemons eating the baby crabs at Wairoa before they grow up to become a nuisance? Or are they attracted to these beaches for another food like tuatua? Or both?
Another question - given our Napier beaches are chock full of crabs, why do snapper spend so much time around the reefs at Clifton and Te Awanga? I suspect that snapper don't see crabs as their easiest meal - despite the apparent numbers.