Zamboanga City — Blue Swimming Crab (BSC) commodity processors and exporters, fisherfolk representatives, local government units, academe, NGOs, CSOs, among other partners, joined the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Provincial Government of Iloilo, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI), and the Philippine Association of Crab Processors, Inc. (PACPI) to band together for the last leg of the nationwide stakeholder consultations for the development of the BSC National Management Plan.

The Mindanao cluster consultation follows the Visayas and Luzon cluster, concluding an intensive nationwide consultation process for the BSC management plan development. This move was initiated under the BFAR-UNDP project: Global Sustainable Supply Chains for Marine Commodities (GMC-PHI), funded by the Global Environment Facility.

Bridging global demand

Global human consumption of seafood has been steadily rising in past decades. This necessarily created an issue on the world’s capacity to bridge the demand-supply gap. As the trend continues, international buyers and associated groups and organizations have begun supporting initiatives to help transform global fisheries into a state of sustainable management—a situation that has given birth to various fisheries certification and eco-labelling schemes that serve to monitor, evaluate, and/or validate the state of global fisheries in terms of sustainability. Evaluation puts a premium on having an effective management plan in place.

For the Philippines, the BSC—which is locally known as kasag, lambay, masag, and alimasag—is a commodity in high demand. Before the 1970s it was a subsistence fishery, which afterwards expanded because of increased demand, including by the US, after the collapse of the Chesapeake blue crab fishery in the 1990s[1]. In 2018, the country’s BSC fishery is valued at over US$ 100 million, ranking 2nd highest in terms of the country’s fisheries production value—US$ 69 million of which in export[2]. Updated information on the national status of stocks, and the fishery supply chain in general, is severely limited[3]. And while excessive fishing effort continues, it is aggravated by the unregulated capture of undersized and “berried” individuals—crabs bearing eggs. There was a Philippine BSC management plan adopted in 2013, but ultimately governance and management had proven to have been lacking in implementation, even with industry efforts[4] in place.

Learning from the past

To help ensure the success of the next-cycle BSC management plan, UNDP supported the BFAR in strengthening and expanding the role of its multi-stakeholder Technical Working Group (TWG) for BSC. Chaired by the BFAR Regional Fisheries Office VI—wherein the Visayan Sea is situated, the largest BSC sourcing area of the country—the platform is now tasked in leading the management plan development process. Under the plan, the TWG is expected to transition to a National BSC Governing Council to continue the monitoring and steering of the plan once it reaches its implementation phase. More partners are expected to express crisp commitments to align their policy and projects to the plan prior its launch.

The 5-year plan will roll-out various policies and projects for the responsible and sustainable management of the Philippine BSC fishery. Partners that have participated in consultations have expressed indicative commitments of projects for alignment with the plan, which is expected to be launched by first quarter of 2020.

                                                                                                    ####

[1] Ingles, J.A. 2004. Status of the blue crab fisheries in the Philippines, pages 47-52. In DA-BFAR. In turbulent seas: The status of Philippine marine fisheries. Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR). Coastal Resource Management Project. Cebu City, Philippines.

[2] https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/Fisheries%20Statistics % 20of%20the%20Philippines%2C%202016-2018_0.pdf

[3] https://www.fishsource.org/stock_page/745

[4] https://fisheryprogress.org/fip-profile/philippines-blue-swimming-crab-bottom-gillnet-pottrap?fbclid=IwAR1NzbRehhBdG5yjMPgZaXv_6n5KMhuCA34IYBvfxQbnVSjm83_KgTv3-BE