Today the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery has been awarded Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for being a sustainable and well-managed fishery.
Atlantic Red Crab Co., the fishery’s new processing plant, also has become MSC Chain of Custody-certified, meeting MSC’s strict standard for seafood traceability. The plant, located in New Bedford, MA, can process the red crabs as whole leg meat, scored arm and claw meat, salad meat, whole crab and customized products.
“The red crab industry is very proud to have earned the distinction of becoming the first MSC-certified fishery on the east coast of the United States. The MSC ecolabel demonstrates the industry’s long term commitment to fishing sustainably and its proactive approach to working with fishery managers. We are very excited to have achieved this milestone as it is an assurance to the viability of red crab products in the seafood marketplace, and the ecolabel is an emblem of pride for our fishermen,” said Jon Williams, president of the New England Red Crab Harvesters’ Association, the client for the fishery’s assessment.
The deep-sea red crab (Chaceon quinquedens) fishery consists of four vessels that cover an area within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, northward to the U.S./Canada border; all four vessels are included in the MSC certification. The crabs are captured at 400 to 800 meters of depth with crab pot traps. Approximately 3.1 million pounds of crab were caught in the 2008 season, which are processed into nearly 1 million pounds of raw product that are sold primarily into the U.S. foodservice market, as well as European retail and foodservice markets.
Nova Seafood in Portland, Maine is a major distributor of red crab. Angelo Ciooca, CEO of Nova Seafood, said, “We are very pleased to market MSC-certified sustainable Atlantic red crab. The timing of this certification process could not be any better as many of our customers are requesting MSC-certified seafood products. The Atlantic red crab industry has long been a leader in sustainable fishing practices, and we hope that red crab is just the first of many species to be MSC-certified as sustainable in the U.S. North Atlantic.”
Brad Ack, director of MSC’s Americas region, said, “I want to congratulate the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery on becoming MSC-certified. This is an important milestone as the first fishery on the east coast of the U.S. to achieve MSC certification. It is the second crab fishery in the world to become certified, and this new supply of MSC-certified crab will be a welcome asset to meet the sustainable seafood needs and commitments of foodservice and retail operations.”
MSC operates the world’s leading certification and ecolabel program for sustainability in wild-capture fisheries. In accordance with the MSC standard, the assessment of the red crab fishery entailed analyses of the status of the red crab stock, the impacts that the fishery has on the marine environment and the effectiveness of the management system overseeing the fishery.
