Baku-APA. The Dutch cabinet has decided to maintain the ban on catching mitten crabs in polluted waterways, the government announced on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
"The government considers the interests of public health a priority," State Secretary of Economic Affairs Sharon Dijksma and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Edith Schippers wrote in a letter to the parliament.
"The ban on catching crab in polluted waterways ensures that seriously polluted crab will not enter the market and excludes unacceptable risks to consumers," the letter said.
The mitten crab fishing ban in the major Dutch rivers was installed in April 2011 because the dioxin content in the brown meat of the crab was detected to be very high, 40 to 100 times higher than in the white meat. Crabs from clean areas such as the IJsselmeer lake were not banned and are safe to eat.
The mitten crab is on average about four times more polluted than eels from the same area, which are also banned. The fishermen who are affected by both fishing bans have been compensated by the government with an allowance for five years for the loss of net income from eels and mitten crabs.
The parliament had wanted to lift the ban before April 1, because it considered the catch of mitten crabs essential for the future of inland fishermen.
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