Meet the fishers

Meet the Atlantic red crab fishers

The Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery was started in the early 1970s. In October 2009 it became the first U.S. East Coast fishery to earn MSC certification.  

It is also the only East Coast fishery whose participants (in 2001) have ever requested a voluntary shut-down of the fishery until a Fisheries Management Plan was put in place. They were determined to protect the red crab resource from over-fishing and successfully lobbied to limit the total allowable catch of red crab. The Fisheries Management Plan that was put in place that year marked the start of a long-term strategic plan for sustainable fishing of Atlantic deep-sea red crabs.

Each of the four boats in this fishery has a permanent captain and five deckhands. A roving captain provides relief when a permanent captain takes a break. The captains and crew fish year-round, often for two months at a time followed by one-month breaks. During the fishing trips, they are generally at sea for seven to nine days at a time before returning to offload the crab.

Jon Williams - majority owner of the Hannah Boden red crab vessel (formerly its captain), CEO of the Atlantic Red Crab Co. and president of the New England Red Crab Harvesters' Association - says, “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 our fishery’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.”