Overview
The Orkney Brown Crab fishery completed a 5-year FIP in 2017 and entered the MSC full assessment in 2018. During that assessment, it was noted that the fishery would fall short of the standard by 1 point in Principle 1 with a score of 79. The scores for principles 2 and 3 were above 80. This is due to the current regulatory framework that the crab and all shellfish species are managed under in Scotland. For us to meet the MSC standard fully it is going to require a change in primary legislation. Due to this, the fishery withdrew from the full assessment process at the client draft report stage.
This continuation of the FIP for Orkney Brown Crab will ensure that we continue to meet the MSC standard for all the performance indicators that we met during the previous FIP and strive to score higher if possible in addition to increasing the scores for the performance indicators that scored under 80.
Through industry engagement with fishers, processors, merchants, and retailers we hope to build on the work through this FIP to ensure biological, social, and economic sustainability for the fishery.
The Orkney Brown Crab fishery completed a 5-year FIP in 2017 and entered the MSC full assessment in 2018. During that assessment, it was noted that the fishery would fall short of the standard by 1 point in Principle 1 with a score of 79.
The aim of this continuation of the FIP for Orkney Brown Crab is for the fishery to meet the MSC Fishing Standard by 2027.
We will do this by improving the MSC indicator scores for Performance Indicators:
- 1.2.1 Harvest strategy
- 1.2.2 Harvest control rules & tools
- 2.2.2 Secondary species management
- 3.2.1 Fishery-specific objectives
We will also maintain all the other indicators that currently meet the MSC standard.