Alabama-based Gilpin and Company has become the first associate member of the National Fisheries Institute’s Crab Council.
Gilpin, which provides a wide range of packaging solutions, is the first company to join the council that is not a crab importer. As an associate member, it will have a separate dues structure from companies who do import crab.
“Expanding our membership beyond only companies that import crab is an important evolution for the council,” said Ed Rhodes, council chair and Phillips Foods' VP of sustainability and aquaculture. “Companies like Gilpin with the foresight to support efforts on the water, half a world away, show how invested and integrated seafood sustsinability has become.”
“As a leader in the packaging world, we have chosen to look past packaging and join the NFI Crab Council in this effort and focus on what goes in our containers,” said Paul McClure, Gilpin president. “When you see a group as varied and dedicated to the sustainability of just one species as the NFI Crab Council is, we can’t help but want to get involved. Joining forces with these companies to ensure the future of the industry helps us make sure there’s a focus on sustainability throughout the value chain.”
Adding to a coalition that makes up nearly 70 percent of the imported blue swimming crab market, Gilpin joins a sustainability alliance that includes Aqua Star, Carrington Foods, Crystal Harbor Seafood, Blue Star, Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, Handy, Heron Point, Lawrence Street Seafood, Newport, Phillips, RGE, Supreme Lobster and Twin Tails.
In March of last year, the council adopted a minimum-size requirement for crabs from Indonesia and the Philippines, and in late April Indonesia’s government accepted and implemented the requirement. In April, the council hired Jeremy Crawford as its Asian liaison.
