Sustainability notes

This is an overview of how the Atlantic deep sea red crab fishery scored in assessment against the MSC standard. For the certifiers evaluation please download the full public certification report with detailed information on the performance of this fishery against the criteria of the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing.

The fishery scored as follows in assessment against the MSC standard for sustainable fishing. The highest possible score for each principle is 100 and a fishery must score at least 80 against each principle to get certified: 

Sustainability strengths

Some points on which the fishery scored over 90 are outlined below. 

Principle 1: the state of the fish stock

• Red crab stocks are well above threshold reference points below which there are risks of impairing reproductive capacity.
  
• A well defined and comprehensive harvest strategy has been implemented after several years of cooperative effort between fishermen, scientists and managers.
  

Principle 2: the impact of the fishery on the marine environment

• The fishery is very selective for the target species and has virtually no detectable impact on other retained species which comprise less than 0.001% by number.
  
• There is no risk of serious harm to any bycatch species, and levels of by-catch are extremely low. The main bycatch are undersized or female red crabs which are released with 95% survival rates.
• There are no documented interactions between this fishery and any endangered, threatened or protected species with surveys reporting no by-catches of any of these vulnerable species.
• As a trap fishery with floating ground lines on a mainly soft mud bottom, there is little or negligible impact of gear on the marine environment.
  
• The fishery does not adversely or permanently affect the structure, productivity, function or diversity of the ecosystem.
  

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• The management system in place is very comprehensive, operating within a framework of U.S. federal laws specific to fishery management.
  
• Multiple layers of precaution are integrated into the management policies governing this fishery, taking into account any uncertainties surrounding the biological assessment of the stock.
  
• There is a very active research programme which aims to provide scientific information to meet the requirements of management of the fishery.
  

Challenges

In order to ensure its continuing sustainable operation this fishery made a commitment to improving its performance where it scored between 60-80. Some of the actions the fishery has committed to are:  

• Implement a strategy by 2010 which aims to gradually increase the average size of males in the population to ensure sufficient numbers of larger males are available in the population to mate with the largest females.
  
• Implement a programme by 2010 to support the collection of fishery-dependent data sufficient for use in annual stock assessments conducted by federal or industry-contracted scientists.