(23 May 87) Ronny DeBrum told me a surefire way to catch a giant coconut crab, called a barulep in Marshallese. These are the giant crabs that are found in parts of the Pacific and are considered a delicacy. This crab can grow up to forty inches across and weigh between thirty-five and forty pounds. They appear at night and have an affinity for coconut meat, hence their name. The Marshallese say the crab meat has a slight hint of coconut to it. (Click on image to enlarge.)
Ronny is a member of the famous Debrum family, who are active in Marshallese politics. Tony DeBrum is one of the authors of the Marshallese-English Dictionary which I use. And Justin DeBrum is the government liaison to the U.S. Army on Kwajalein Atoll.
According to Ronny, you can capitalize on the crab’s fondness for coconut. First you heat up broken pieces of the meat and shell, enough so that the sweet aroma is strong. The pieces are then spread around on a section of the island.
Before long, the crabs make their way from hiding places to the bait. Ronny says he sneaks up from behind, grabs a crab by the pincers and binds them with tape or twine. These pincers are powerful and can inflict a great deal of pain, he added. The taste must be exceptional because the going rate for crabs on Ebeye is twenty-five dollars each. But the only crab I’ve seen so far is mounted on the wall down at the police station. One constable said they are plentiful on the northern island of Roi-Namur.
I might transfer up there sometime. It’s supposed to be a place for those who march to a different drummer. A type of exile. I would like to check out the barulep.
Filed under: Almost Paradise Volume 2
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