COMPLETED Nicaragua Caribbean spiny lobster - trap

Primary tabs

Overview

What is a Completed FIP?

Completed FIPs are those that have independent verification that they have achieved their environmental objectives and/or graduated to MSC full assessment or other program assessment. Completed FIPs no longer report on their environmental performance but may choose to voluntarily report on their social performance.

Date of Completion: Sep 2022

Explanation of Completion: The FIP is entering MSC full assessment.

Completion Link

Nicaragua is the largest Caribbean spiny lobster fishery that supplies the United States. Thousands of Nicaraguans earn a livelihood through the fishery, from vessel owners and fishermen to packing plant employees. A critical issue challenging this fishery is the likelihood of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) that weakens management of the resource and equitable access for local livelihoods. Concurrent issues are a lack of new or improved data from the artisanal sector to inform the stock status, bycatch, and habitat impacts from lobster traps. There are still some uncertainties relating to the structure of the stock population that need to be taken into account - even though Nicaraguan stock assessment methods are appropriate for the spiny lobster resource and for the implementation of harvest control rules, issues can arise due to the fact that this lobster fishery is also shared with Honduras. The evaluation needs to consider both countries in order to achieve an unconditional pass under the MSC standard.

FIP Description 

Nicaragua is the largest Caribbean spiny lobster fishery that supplies the United States. Thousands of Nicaraguans earn a livelihood through the fishery, from vessel owners and fishermen to packing plant employees.

FIP Objective(s) 

The objective of this FIP is to be completed by June 2022 and enter MSC full assessment after that. 

The FIP is complete and the fishery has entered MSC full assessment process, as the selected CAB was hired on September 13th, 2022. 

FIP Type 
Comprehensive
FIP Stage 
Stage 5: Improvements on the Water
Start and Projected End Dates
January 2012
June 2022
Update 
Several activities are in progress and their corresponding verification media is being developed. This has taken more than expected, but stakeholders continue to be engaged, specially INPESCA. Additionally, some activities entail coordination with Honduras, bringing an additional complication in order to advance. September-2020: The binational stock assessment in the Honduras-Nicaragua platform is taking longer than expected. Prior the COVID-19 pandemic, the preparatory phase was completed and the second phase, the stock assessment itself, was planned to start in April 2020. Given the conditions imposed by the current situation, this phase started until July 2020. Even though data bases for Nicaragua are ready, data bases from the processing plants in Honduras are still being collected, process taking longer than planned given the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 and the start of the lobster season, so more time will be needed to finish this assessment. As efforts were focused on finishing such evaluation, the pending activities were put on hold and will continue in such state at least for 2020, retaking them on 2021 and planning to finish them by middle 2021, considering that the COVID-19 situation will continue hitting the region next year. December-2021: As the FIP workplan had few pending milestones after completing the binational stock assessment in May 2021, during the fourth FIP review meeting, that took place in December 2021, new milestones were added in order to better prepare the fishery for the MSC full assessment. Given this situation, the projected end date was extended until June 2022. Is expected for the FIP to enter MSC full assessment after June 2022. September-2022: FIP pending actions were completed in June 2022. The fishery has entered MSC full assessment process, as the selected CAB was hired on September 13th, 2022.
Last Progress Report Reviewed 
Friday, October 13, 2023
Species 
Common Name 
Spiny Lobster (Caribbean)
Scientific Name
Panulirus argus
Buying Guide Link Image 
Spiny Lobster (Caribbean)
Buying Guide
Gear Type 
Pot/Trap
Location
FAO Major Fishing Area
Area 31 (Atlantic, Western Central)
Exclusive Economic Zones
Country 
Nicaragua
Landings
Estimated Total FIP Landings 
1,740 metric tons
Estimated Total Fishery Landings 
1,740 metric tons
Landings Date 
December 2020
PrintPDF

FIP at a Glance

View current status
January 01, 2012
15% 48% 37%
Progress Rating (A) Advanced Progress

Reserved for comprehensive FIPs that have achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result within the past 12 months.

(B) Good Progress

A basic FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result within 12 months.

(C) Some Recent Progress
  • A FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result in more than 12 (but less than 24) months AND has reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
  • A FIP younger than 12 months that has never achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result but has reported a Stage 3 activity within the first 12 months.
(D) Some Past Progress
  • A FIP that has achieved a Stage 4 or 5 result in more than 12 (but less than 24) months BUT has not reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
  • A FIP for which the most recent Stage 4 or 5 result is more than 24 (but less than 36) months old AND a Stage 3 activity has been reported within six months.
  • A FIP 12-36 months old that has never reported a Stage 4 or 5 result AND has reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.
(E) Negligible Progress
  • A FIP for which the most recent Stage 4 or 5 result is more than 24 (but less than 36) months old, with no Stage 3 activity reported in the last six months.
  • A FIP younger than 12 months with no Stage 3 activity reported within 12 months.
  • A FIP 12-36 months old that has never reported a Stage 4 or 5 result AND has not reported a Stage 3 activity within the past six months.

The ratings are currently derived by SFP from publicly available data on FIP websites, including FisheryProgress.org, and are determined using the following methodology: View PDF
Not yet available
Actions Complete

This pie chart represents completed environmental actions. Non-completed environmental actions may contain completed sub-tasks that are not illustrated here. For more information on environmental action progress visit the Actions Progress tab.
  • Complete
  • Incomplete
Target End Date
Jun 2022

FIP Leads

Organization Name 
WWF
Organization Type 
NGO
Primary Contact 
Pilar Velasquez
Email 
PVelasquez@wwfca.org
Website Name 
WWF Guatemala | WWF
Organization Name 
WWF
Primary Contact 
Wendy Goyert
Email 
wendy.goyert@wwfus.org
Website Name 
WWF Seafood Sustainability
FIP Identification Number The FIP Identification Number is automatically generated by FisheryProgress when a FIP profile is created. While the number itself is not meaningful, they are used by NGOs, academia, and industry to refer to FIPs in a consistent way.
506