Baltimore, Maryland – The National Fisheries Institute’s Crab Council met in Baltimore, Maryland June 21 and 22 as part of its working group meeting series. This is the third of the policy and project focused meetings since 2019. Previous consultations have resulted in everything from development of detailed units of assessment, to track Fisheries Improvement Projects (FIP) to the adoption of the Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR) method to quantify and monitor progress.
“We had two days of particularly rich content, but this year’s focus really targeted an interest in expanding our sustainability work,” said NFI Crab Council Chair Brice Phillips of Phillips Foods. “Blue Swimming Crab, and its cousins, have become a global species these days and we want to insure we have visibility into the sustainability of these crab fisheries that are now all over the world.”
The NFI Crab Council funds FIPs in Indonesia, The Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
“This group began the hard work of processing data and intelligence related to crab fisheries where we’re currently not operating sustainability projects,” said Ed Rhodes, Executive Director of the NFI Crab Council. “As our member companies begin to source from an increasingly diverse number of fisheries, we want to stay ahead of the work needed to keep them healthy. I anticipate the Council expanding our FIP targets in a matter of months, not years.”
Representatives from Carthage Crabs, Handy International, Newport International, Phillips Foods, Quirch Foods, Supreme Crab, 3 Fish, Twin Tails, and NFI all participated.
Since 2009, the NFI Crab Council has practiced industry led stewardship, addressing fishery needs through scientific, social, and financial channels. Learn more at committedtocrab.org.
