Transporting Live Crab on Airplane

[Catfish]

Hey, just curious if anyone has done this before. I have family visiting from Alberta and we have been pretty successful in catching a few crab. They want to go out the morning before their flight and bring some live crab home with them to share with the rest of the fam. It’s just a 1.5hr flight from Victoria to Edmonton.

I have no doubt the crabs should survive, but I’m wondering if anyone else has been through this before. I need to find out where we can buy some transport approved coolers/containers to ship the crabs in. Flight out is on Monday and I was gonna check some of the seafood stores in Victoria, Sooke, and Sydney but many are closed for the long weekend .

WestJet allows live seafood but there are restrictions on the type of container that is used (from their website):

Seafood, including shellfish such as crabs, crayfish, lobsters, mussels, shrimp and ocean plant life (such as kelp) will be accepted on flights (with the exception of Dublin):

• when packed with protective padding (Styrofoam™) inserts as provided by commercial seafood retailers)
• when packed with absorbent material between the plastic bag and the inner wall of the outer packaging
• when cooked, provided it is in a sealed plastic bag before being packed
• when live, provided it is accompanied by an acceptable coolant (see above) to keep the shellfish damp during transportation

 

[Claymaker]

Hey, just curious if anyone has done this before. I have family visiting from Alberta and we have been pretty successful in catching a few crab. They want to go out the morning before their flight and bring some live crab home with them to share with the rest of the fam. It’s just a 1.5hr flight from Victoria to Edmonton.

I have no doubt the crabs should survive, but I’m wondering if anyone else has been through this before. I need to find out where we can buy some transport approved coolers/containers to ship the crabs in. Flight out is on Monday and I was gonna check some of the seafood stores in Victoria, Sooke, and Sydney but many are closed for the long weekend .

WestJet allows live seafood but there are restrictions on the type of container that is used (from their website):

can you not buy styrofoam cooler from thriftys and send it like that? they sell crab for 40$lb

 

[Old Blue]

Kill them right before going to the airport, pack them in small cooler and keep cool as much as possible and remember no dry ice. They'll be fine until the next night.

 

[ship happens]

If anyone wants Styrofoam coolers my buddy has them stacked to the ceiling and he keeps trying to pawn them off on me. Think there's a flat deck load worth. 2 pallets high. Freebie

 

[Flyflicker]

Used to deliver live prawn/fish to Tri-Star in Richmond. They would band the pinchers of the crab much like lobster then place them in a styrofoam cooler, tape it up then with a needle that was hooked up to hose and oxygen canister they stuck the needle into the styrofoam and would put in a little oxygen. That was for a flight to the east coast. In your case they should be fine on such a short flight.

 

[Bryan Allen]

Just make sure they have the bill of sale or rec licences and stay within the possesstion limit.

 

[Brenn61]

Hey, just curious if anyone has done this before. I have family visiting from Alberta and we have been pretty successful in catching a few crab. They want to go out the morning before their flight and bring some live crab home with them to share with the rest of the fam. It’s just a 1.5hr flight from Victoria to Edmonton.

I have no doubt the crabs should survive, but I’m wondering if anyone else has been through this before. I need to find out where we can buy some transport approved coolers/containers to ship the crabs in. Flight out is on Monday and I was gonna check some of the seafood stores in Victoria, Sooke, and Sydney but many are closed for the long weekend .

WestJet allows live seafood but there are restrictions on the type of container that is used (from their website):

Pharmacies have some of the best styro coolers, usually free.

 

[Aquaholic]

Pharmacies have some of the best styro coolers, usually free.

Hospitals too, they are used to transfer organs. Small compact, thick walls, really good for this.

People get lobsters shipped from the East Coast all the time.

 

[salmonkiller01]

I would pack the live crab in a cooler covered in salt ice. I went crabbing in the summer and put the crabs in it. 5 hours later they were dam near frozen but alive.