A new project to improve the management of squid fisheries in southern China aims to be a template for the sector globally.
Chinese and Taiwanese distant fishing firms have become major players in the global squid catch in over the past decade. The Shantou Taiwan Common Squid fishery improvement project (FIP) will see better harvest monitoring and training of fishermen and is being facilitated by the China Blue Sustainability Institute, a local non-governmental organization run by Han Han, a conservationist who has worked on several similar projects focused on the tilapia sector.
Han said she sees this FIP as a “pilot” for reforms that explores a “co-management system” for various species in China by bringing together industry, academia, and government.
The project is funded by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, with input from key squid buying companies like the United States-based Beaver Street Fisheries. The firm s backing the Chinese FIP, as sustainable squid production can be “elusive,” according to Casey Marion, head of sustainability at Beaver Street.
