Two very positive, proactive developments could help address the issues facing the UK brown crab sector and influence its future growth, profitability and sustainability. A new industry-wide group has been formed and Seafish will be funding three projects in 2009/10 which will be of real benefit to this sector.
The new group, initiated by the Scottish Fisheries Council (SFC) Crab and Lobster Strategy Group, brings together fishermen, their associations, representatives from the processing sector, policy makers and regulators, to share expertise and identify common issues.
The group has now met twice and has highlighted the management options open to the UK brown crab sector. A consensus was reached on a commitment to increase the Minimum Landing Size (MLS) throughout the UK by 10mm or 10% of the carapace, whichever is the smaller amount. The group supported an EU-wide approach but would progress the measure at a UK level, preferably through statutory legislation rather than via voluntary measures. A ban on crippled crabs should also be included in the MLS legislation.
The group acknowledged the existence and relative merits of other management measures such as pot limitation, fleet reduction and quotas and these will be debated fully at subsequent meetings.
To further support the sector Seafish has just announced it will be funding three industry-related projects in 2009/10 under its Industry Project Fund. The first will look into the management of brown crab stocks in the UK and Ireland, in particular investigating and evaluating: licensing and its appropriateness; quota and other methods of resource allocation; season closures; areas, permits and annual entitlements; technical conservation measures; and pot marking and registers. The project will provide a comprehensive assessment of the economic and resource conservation benefits of each measure.
There is no ICES survey of brown crab and little reliable data on stocks so the second project will develop, evaluate and apply a multiple indicator based (traffic light) approach to assess the status of edible crab and lobsters. Finally the third project is ongoing and started in 2008. The aim of the project is to develop a functional design specification for automated equipment to extract brown meat from the shell of brown crab.
“The whole purpose of the Industry Project Fund is to support work that has widespread benefit to the industry. Issues surrounding the management of the UK brown crab industry have been going on for many years. The three projects address key issues facing the industry, and the new group creates an excellent forum for all interested parties to get together,” said Marcus Jacklin, Seafish Project Manager.
The progress of all three projects will be monitored by the group which is due to meet again in early July. In addition, a Brown Crab Symposium is being considered for November 2009.
