Mandurah is Western Australia’s most well-known places for fresh seafood and top-notch fishing spots. Renowned for the iconic blue manna crab, locals and tourists from all over are drawn here to hotspots along our waterways to try their hand at crabbing. Leading the way in sustainable crabbing, it’s something we’re very proud of. So, to help you out here’s everything you need to know about crabbing in Mandurah from one of the city’s most well-known local fishermen, Damien (Damo) Bell with Bellbuoy Seafoods.

ABOUT DAMO

Damien Bell and his family have been running their company Bellbuoy Seafoods for 15 years catching seafood for Mandurah locals and their businesses. To Damien the best thing about Mandurah is the estuary where you can swim, fish, kayak, and walk a dog, “its uses are endless and its beautiful and protected”. Through his company he provides fresh, high-quality seafood including seasonally caught herring, whiting and cobbler as well as Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified, sustainably sourced sea mullet and blue manna crabs. Of course the blue manna crab are iconic here in Mandurah being well known, loved and celebrated. So, here are some of Damien’s top tips and tricks to catching these delicious seafood delights.

How to catch blue manna crabs

Here in Mandurah there are three ways to catch blue manna crabs – 1. dropping a net from a boat or jetty, 2. walking in the water with a scoop net or 3. diving and grabbing them by hand.

DROPPING A NET FROM A BOAT/JETTY

When the season is open, you can have nets out 24 hours a day – having up to 10 nets out at a time. Damien recommends spacing out your nets roughly 20 metres apart from each other in a straight line, and leapfrog them over until you catch some. Oily fish bait is recommended. Damien’s crew use mullet, but crabs will eat anything so bait like chicken necks are often used as they are cheap and easy to access. With this method “this season’s been very easy, people are getting their crabs in two or three runs”.

It’s important to noted that you do require a fishing license to catch crabs from a boat – see the Rules & Regulations section below. There are plenty of public jetties around Mandurah that you can drop a net from too – no license is required.

SCOOPING FOR CRABS

One of the most fun ways to catch your crabs is to walk in the shallows of the estuary (up to waist deep) with your scoop net. Sometimes they’ll be easy to catch, just sitting on the sand but other times they’ll be hiding under the sand with just their mouth showing, where you’ll need to poke it with the end of the scoop then scoop it from behind. When scooping, approach the crab quietly and then quickly scoop it up. Be sure to check the size of your crab straight away, and if it doesn’t meet the size requirements release it immediately and walk on. What other equipment should you take when scooping? It is recommended to wear water booties or old shoes to protect your toes from their claws, take a floating container with you to put your catch in and don’t forget your SunSmart attire.

DIVING FOR CRABS

Going diving to catch crabs is one of Damien’s family’s favourite methods but be sure to have a nice big glove on. Swim through the water over seaweed in about two to three metres of depth, spot a crab, and dive down and grab it!

Best time and place to go crabbing in Mandurah

The Peel-Harvey Estuary here in Mandurah is the perfect place to go crabbing with its shallow waters. Crabs are most often found on the edge of the sand banks that are fringed with seaweed, though they are found frequently in the sand holes in amongst the ribbon weed as well. The season is open for nine months of the year and according to Damien the best months to go crabbing for the biggest, juiciest crabs is during January, February, March and into early April. The best time to catch them is in the early morning or the late afternoon.

Rules, regulations & sustainability

There are a few rules and regulations to keep crabbing sustainable here in Mandurah. The crabbing season is closed for three months of the year, from September 1st to November 30th, to allow for breeding and repopulation. During the remaining nine months of the year though, crabbing is kept sustainable by these rules. Size limits are set that every crab caught and kept must have a minimum carapace (shell) length of 127 millimetres tip to tip to ensure it is not a juvenile crab. If it does not meet this size requirement it must be put back. This also applies to females with eggs, they must also be put back. Bag limits also do apply to the crabbing here in Mandurah. If you are walking on the shore with a scoop net, you’re allowed to keep ten crabs per person – that is actively fishing with a scoop in hand. This bag limit is different if you are on a boat however. Firstly, if fishing from a boat you must have a recreational fishing license which allows you to keep up to 10 crabs. If you have two or more people on board with fishing licenses the absolute boat limit is 20 crabs.

For Damien and the crew at Bellbuoy Seafoods they keep their commercial crabbing sustainable as well. They are the only crab fishery in Australia with MSC approval and this is an eco-accreditation gained through the highest examination of their fishery to look into how they’re managed, and how they may affect the environment and the stock. One of the ways they gained and continue to abide by this accreditation is by fishing to order. This means they don’t catch more than they know they can sell day to day locally and none of their products are exported. They also fish on small boats only on weekdays to minimize impacts.

It’s important to remember that the rules and regulations are different everywhere, so before you go crabbing in any region make sure you’re aware of and up to date on those regions crabbing rules. You can find all of the fisheries information for each region in Western Australia at www.fish.wa.gov.au or for an easier to understand break down of these rules per region you can also check out Rec Fish West.

Where to buy if you don’t catch

If you’re not too much of a fisher yourself or if you give it a crack without much luck, there are multiple places around that you can buy fresh Mandurah crabs to go and cook up at home. Fisho Mandurah are one of the key places around town that stock Mandurah’s iconic blue manna crab. They can be found out the front of Gilbert and Sons Fresh Market Mandurah. Wattsie’s Place is another well-known place to buy fresh crabs found at 2299 Old Coast Road. But what better way to get crabs as fresh as possible, without catching them yourself, then to buy them straight off a fisherman’s boat. Damien recommends going down to boat ramps in the early morning from Tuesday to Saturday where “you can buy direct off us”.

HOW TO COOK

Once you have your crab, whether it be caught or bought, you need the best way to prepare and eat it. The best way to prepare your blue manner crab Damien says is to “boil in salt water as salty as the ocean. Boil the crab on the boil for roughly 10 minutes… [then] cool the crab in an ice saltwater slurry”. Clean, gut and remove the gills of the crab then start peeling the meat out as best you can, “take your time… crabs are fiddly”. You’ll then have your fresh cooked crab meat ready to be used for the most delectable crab dishes. Here are Damien’s two favourite dishes.

DAMO’S CRAB PASTA

Damien’s favourite crab recipe is crab pasta. For this you’ll need your pre-cooked crab meat, pasta (fettuccine or spaghetti), olive oil, garlic, chilli, butter, fresh parsley, white wine, pepper, and fresh parmesan cheese. Start by boiling your pasta you can use any fettuccine or spaghetti though Damien recommends using high quality fettuccine for the best results. Drain the pasta off and place to the side. Mix together olive oil, white wine, butter, garlic, and parsley to make your sauce. Take some of this sauce and top with a layer of pasta followed by a layer of parmesan cheese and a layer of crab. Repeat this layering until all your ingredients are used then put the lid on and toss it all together adding white wine and olive oil as needed. Serve this with a sprinkling of fresh parsley and some cracked pepper.

DAMO’S ASIAN CHILLI CRAB

For Damo’s Asian Chilli Crab, you’ll need your pre-cooked crab, white wine, sweet chilli, water, spring onion, butter, and garlic. Once you have your pre-cooked crab, heat up a wok and mix together 1 cup of white wine, 1 cup of water, and some butter, then sweet chilli, spring onion, and garlic to taste. Bring this to the boil before putting in your precooked crab halves and tossing it through the sauce for a minute or two. Serve the crab with the sauce poured all over it and there you have Damo’s Asian Chilli Crab.

During Crab Fest 2024, Damien came on board one of our vessels here at Mandurah Cruises to cook up a storm for the amazing Jo Griggs for a special feature on Channel 7’s Better Homes and Gardens. Click here to watch the segment.

CELEBRATE THE BLUE MANNA CRAB

By far the best way to celebrate the joy of catching and eating the beautiful blue manna crab is by partaking in the Channel 7 Mandurah Crab Fest! Immerse yourself in Mandurah’s crabbing culture over the weekend of the 15th and 16th of March 2025 with this amazing free, family-friendly event. Packed full of fun experiences, live entertainment, and delectable food with the focus of many dishes being the blue manna crab, this weekend is sure to excite your senses. Come and join us for this much anticipated weekend where we will be cruising all day, both days, giving you an insight to this brilliant place that we and the blue manna crabs call home.

Plan your Mandurah Crab Fest weekend at crabfest.com.au