U.S. and Chinese seafood industry groups, fishermen, and sustainable seafood collectives have marked the launch of a crab improvement project in southeast China.
The Fujian Zhangzhou Red Swimming Crab Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) is led by the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Red Crab Council, China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), Zhangzhou Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Association (ZAPPMA), along with Ocean Outcomes, an NGO.
SeafoodSource previously reported on the proposed launch of the FIP in April 2018.
In what is the first project of its kind in China, the FIP aims to improve the sustainability of the region’s 40,000-metric-ton (annual) red swimming crab fisheries, which ship domestically and to the United States.
Ocean Outcomes’ Beijing-based director, Songlin Wang, sees the FIP as unique in tapping corporate and Chinese government support for a “formal road-map for transitioning the fishery to sustainable management.”
The FIP will be guided by a five-year improvement work plan designed to move the fishery towards a science-based catch management strategy, such as utilizing a minimum harvestable crab size and protecting egg-bearing females.
“Crab from these fisheries are imported by our member companies and sold across the globe,” NFI President John Connelly said. “Precompetitive sustainability projects, such as this FIP, are a way to ensure our Chinese partners, NFI members, and consumers have continued access to healthy red swimming crab resources.”
NFI Red Crab Council members will invest USD 0.02 (EUR 0.01) of every imported pound of RSC meat towards the improvement project. But funds will also come from local government, which has pledge to invest in management measures within the development of a comprehensive harvest strategy. A portion of the crab pot fleet covered by the FIP will also be the special focus of the Fujian government’s national fisheries management reform pilot.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to leverage government support, international and local expertise, fishery and community engagement efforts, and conservation investments to test innovative improvement models to scale up the sustainability of Chinese fisheries and seafood industry, starting with our RSC fishery,” CAPPMA President He Cui said.
“The crabs and sea have generously provided us with food and jobs, but we haven’t done enough to protect them,” Zhenkui Chen, president of the local arm of CAPPMA, said.
Chen said he witnessed the decline of the RSC fishing and seafood processing sectors, first as a fisherman and then as an entrepreneur. He is now calling on his fellow fishermen and seafood processors to “spare no effort to support the FIP for ourselves and our future generations.”
