The condemned crab: dilemmas in the conversion of crustaceans into commodities

Pereira, Lucas Coelho

doi:10.1590/1809-4341.2025v22e00809

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Dossier - Black Brazilian Anthropology • Vibrant, Virtual Braz. Anthr. 22 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1809-4341.2025v22e00809 linkcopy

The condemned crab: dilemmas in the conversion of crustaceans into commodities

O caranguejo condenado: dilemas da conversão de crustáceos em mercadorias

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

This photographic essay explores the engagements between crabs, crab-harvesters (caranguejeiros) and their bosses in the e Parnaíba Delta Marine Extractive Reserve. Through its images, the essay shows a crucial moment in the conversion of crabs into commodities: the cut, when crabs in poor condition for sale are separated from the rest. The aim is to demonstrate how the cut simultaneously brings into relation labour practices, technical processes and interactions between humans and other living beings in contemporary capitalism. Hence, the crab-commodity is not produced solely through a commercial relationship but is mediated by an orchestrated set of dynamics involving people, crustaceans and the paths along which they circulate.

Keywords:
Human-animal relations; Commodities; Capitalism; Artisanal fishing; Caranguejo-uçá; Visual ethnography.

Authorship

person Lucas Coelho Pereira

school Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil Universidade Federal da ParaíbaBrazilJoão Pessoa, PB, Brazil Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil

0000-0001-8634-045X

emailE-mail: lucascoelhopereira@gmail.com

Translated by

David Rodgers.

Dossier Editors

Vinícius Venancio (vini.venancio2@gmail.com | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3245-1204)

Federal University of Goiás, Faculty of Social Sciences, Goiânia, GO, Brazil Universidade Federal de Goiás, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais, Goiânia, GO, Brasil

Andréa Lobo (andreaslobo@yahoo.com.br | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7525-1953)

University of Brasília, Departament of Anthropology, Brasília, DF, Brazil Universidade de Brasília, Departamento de Antropologia, Brasília, DF, Brasil

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil Universidade Federal da ParaíbaBrazilJoão Pessoa, PB, Brazil Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil

Figures

Figures (11)

Thumbnail

Image 1 In the community of Torto, located within the Parnaíba Delta Marine Extractive Reserve, the caranguejeiros or crab-harvesters usually leave the mangrove around 1 pm, the exact time varying according to the day’s tidal conditions. Zequinha, one of Torto’s patrões, knowing roughly when the crab-harvesters from his turma will arrive, wanders down to the riverbank. He needs to receive the merchandise.

Thumbnail

Image 2 Not all caranguejeiros travel to the mangrove on foot. Those who choose to harvest crabs in more distant mangrove areas use boats.

Thumbnail

Image 3 At least two kinds of intermediaries are involved in the crab trade: those who live within the community, as in Zequinha’s case, and those who reside in nearby urban centres, such as the city of Parnaíba, in Piauí. The latter resell the crabs to markets and restaurants along the coast of Piauí and Ceará.

Thumbnail

Image 4 A ‘crab string’ (corda de caranguejo) is composed of four crustaceans and is assembled while still in the mangrove. Defining the exact moment when the living crab is converted into a commodity is difficult. In fact, this ambiguity - living being/commodity - is constitutive of all relations between my crab-harvester hosts and the crabs themselves. In the corda, this ambiguity becomes even more pronounced.

Thumbnail

Image 5 Only male crabs may be harvested, a regulation established by environmental agencies and a practice traditionally followed by the harvesters themselves. Within the Resex Delta do Parnaíba, the minimum size for captured crustaceans is seven centimetres. In addition, in the corda - a string of four crabs - the larger ones are placed on top and the smaller ones below, in order to make the string more appealing to the bosses and other buyers.

Thumbnail

Image 6 External intermediaries order crabs by the unit, not by the corda. Zequinha was perhaps the only boss in Torto who selected his crabs before selling them to outside buyers. In this way, he maintained greater control over how many crabs in perfect condition he was selling, he told me. Suspicious.

Thumbnail

Image 7 The smaller bucket holds the crabs that have been condenados, condemned, those that do not make the corte or the cut - that is, the boss’s selection - either because they are too small, they have lost their larger claws, or they display weak vital reflexes due to the exertion involved in their capture.

Thumbnail

Image 8 Condemned crabs are not purchased by the boss. This is one of the main points of conflict between caranguejeiros and turma leaders. Complaints that the boss is discarding crabs in good selling condition, merely because they are not as large as he would like, are a constant refrain among the crab-harvesters.

Thumbnail

Image 9 Not every crustacean captured becomes a commodity. Some die along the way, while others are returned alive to the mangrove because they are too small for their meat to be useful. As in this case, in which the crab is still alive.

Thumbnail

Image 10 The crab must remain alive throughout the commercialisation process. From the Resex, in the municipality of Araioses, Maranhão, the crabs are taken to the neighbouring town of Ilha Grande, in Piauí, where they are placed in basquetas - plastic crates - lined with layers of moistened foam.

Thumbnail

Image 11 Generally, each harvester passes on one amarrado (bundle) to his boss at the end of the day. An amarrado is, par excellence, a bundle of crab-commodities. It is also a unit of measurement: it corresponds to forty crabs or ten cordas. After the corte, the crabs continue their journey

imageImage 1 In the community of Torto, located within the Parnaíba Delta Marine Extractive Reserve, the caranguejeiros or crab-harvesters usually leave the mangrove around 1 pm, the exact time varying according to the day’s tidal conditions. Zequinha, one of Torto’s patrões, knowing roughly when the crab-harvesters from his turma will arrive, wanders down to the riverbank. He needs to receive the merchandise. open_in_new

imageImage 2 Not all caranguejeiros travel to the mangrove on foot. Those who choose to harvest crabs in more distant mangrove areas use boats. open_in_new

imageImage 3 At least two kinds of intermediaries are involved in the crab trade: those who live within the community, as in Zequinha’s case, and those who reside in nearby urban centres, such as the city of Parnaíba, in Piauí. The latter resell the crabs to markets and restaurants along the coast of Piauí and Ceará. open_in_new

imageImage 4 A ‘crab string’ (corda de caranguejo) is composed of four crustaceans and is assembled while still in the mangrove. Defining the exact moment when the living crab is converted into a commodity is difficult. In fact, this ambiguity - living being/commodity - is constitutive of all relations between my crab-harvester hosts and the crabs themselves. In the corda, this ambiguity becomes even more pronounced. open_in_new

imageImage 5 Only male crabs may be harvested, a regulation established by environmental agencies and a practice traditionally followed by the harvesters themselves. Within the Resex Delta do Parnaíba, the minimum size for captured crustaceans is seven centimetres. In addition, in the corda - a string of four crabs - the larger ones are placed on top and the smaller ones below, in order to make the string more appealing to the bosses and other buyers. open_in_new

imageImage 6 External intermediaries order crabs by the unit, not by the corda. Zequinha was perhaps the only boss in Torto who selected his crabs before selling them to outside buyers. In this way, he maintained greater control over how many crabs in perfect condition he was selling, he told me. Suspicious. open_in_new

imageImage 7 The smaller bucket holds the crabs that have been condenados, condemned, those that do not make the corte or the cut - that is, the boss’s selection - either because they are too small, they have lost their larger claws, or they display weak vital reflexes due to the exertion involved in their capture. open_in_new

imageImage 8 Condemned crabs are not purchased by the boss. This is one of the main points of conflict between caranguejeiros and turma leaders. Complaints that the boss is discarding crabs in good selling condition, merely because they are not as large as he would like, are a constant refrain among the crab-harvesters. open_in_new

imageImage 9 Not every crustacean captured becomes a commodity. Some die along the way, while others are returned alive to the mangrove because they are too small for their meat to be useful. As in this case, in which the crab is still alive. open_in_new

imageImage 10 The crab must remain alive throughout the commercialisation process. From the Resex, in the municipality of Araioses, Maranhão, the crabs are taken to the neighbouring town of Ilha Grande, in Piauí, where they are placed in basquetas - plastic crates - lined with layers of moistened foam. open_in_new

imageImage 11 Generally, each harvester passes on one amarrado (bundle) to his boss at the end of the day. An amarrado is, par excellence, a bundle of crab-commodities. It is also a unit of measurement: it corresponds to forty crabs or ten cordas. After the corte, the crabs continue their journey open_in_new

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