Crab & Lobster

The South West Crab and Lobster improvement project began in 2017 and ended in April 2023. Over the six years of the project, 64 Steering Group members collaborated and contributed their expertise, representing 37 different businesses and organisations in the UK and EU.

Despite the FIP ending, there remains a strong interest in continuous improvements and implementing appropriate management measures in this fishery to ensure its long-term sustainability.

Summary

The FIP focused on a number of key areas: enhancing knowledge of ETP species, engaging industry stakeholders, and exploring risks such as ghost gear and marine megafauna entanglement.

Key achievements included commissioning a review of fishery interactions with ETP species, organising Crab Management Workshops for industry input, and conducting risk assessments on potting gear and abandoned fishing gear. Our efforts concluded with a formal contribution to the crab and lobster Fisheries Management Plan (FMP), published in 2023. Whilst a lot of progress has been made, further work is needed to move this fishery towards MSC certification in the future.

Next steps

Following the FIP finishing in April 2023, the final review indicated that while the fishery would not be expected to fail an MSC assessment in any one specific area, more improvements are needed on management measures to ensure an overall pass.

Several objectives are detailed in the English crab and lobster FMP, which, if implemented, could meet the FIP’s remaining actions to deliver a sustainable fishery. This includes developing a harvest strategy and setting out clear objectives for stock management and harvest control rules to achieve them, for example through pot limits, days at sea, quotas, or bag limits.

A key proposal of the FMP was to pilot finer-scale management approaches for brown crab and lobster in certain areas to deliver effective fishery management. Priority areas included the South West, where locally appropriate input controls - controlling fishing activity, for example, through pot limits or days at sea - could be tested. It is hoped that progress will be seen on these actions in the near future, and Project UK remains keen to support this in any way possible.

For a full list of the remaining actions, milestones, and MSC scoring indicators, please see the Year 6 Annual Review by Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management.

The crab & lobster FIP is supported by a dedicated steering group of experts representing a cross-sectoral range of stakeholder organisations.

Participants

Centre for Environmental & Fisheries Science (Cefas) • Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) • Cornwall College • Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) • Direct Seafoods • Falfish • Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (Cornwall, Devon and Severn, Scilly Isles, Southern) • Labeyrie • Macduff • Marine Management Organisation • Morrisons • Natural England • North Devon Fishermens Association • Poseidon • Seafish • Seafood & Eat It • South Devon and Channel Fishermen • The Blue Sea Food Co • The Real Cornish Crab Company Ltd • Waterdance • W Harvey & Sons • WWF