East Coast Crab
Summary
This FIP area was identified based on the southern North Sea brown crab (Cancer pagarus) stock. This stock overlaps with several key fishing ports on the East coast of England, from Cromer to Bridlington.
In 2024, FaSS funding was awarded to engage further with the crab fishing communities that target this stock, to gauge the capacity to make the proposed improvements. Members of the MSC UK & Ireland outreach team held outreach sessions in Wells on Sea, Grimsby and Bridlington to meet members of the fishing industry, supply chain and management organizations to begin this process, and are now reviewing the potential next steps in conjunction with the MSC Improvement Program.
The pre-assessment conducted in 2022 found that improvements need to be made in various areas, including:
Stock status (& stock rebuilding if necessary)
Harvest strategy & Harvest Control Rules
Interaction with the wider habitat
in order to pass an MSC assessment.
A report from these workshops will be published in due course.
Please contact projectuk@msc.org with any enquiries.
