Crab Fisheries
Bradley G. Stevens, Thomas J. Miller
Abstract
The principal crab fisheries around the world are reviewed with regard to patterns of exploitation and existing management systems. Thirty-five species and thirty fisheries were evaluated using a series of sustainability indexes based on landings, biological information, and assessment data. Indexes were scored as Good, Fair, or Poor, adapting the traffic light approach of Caddy et al. (2005). Examples include Jonah crab (<italic>Cancer borealis</italic>), for which landings have increased by a factor of 6.5 since 2000 (Poor); gazami (<italic>Portunus trituberculatus</italic>), which supports the largest crab fishery in the world (Fair); and blue crab (<italic>Callinectes sapidus</italic>), which has had stable landings for decades (Good). Management systems that incorporate stock assessment, biological information, and rights-based management (quota systems) generally outperform those without such attributes. Challenges for sustainable management were identified, including selective harvest (especially use of minimum size limits), climate change and its impacts on reproduction, and bycatch and discard mortality. Conserving populations and sustaining fisheries will require solving these problems in the near future.