The Blue Swimming Crab Partnership in the Visayan Sea
This brief documents the complex challenge of improving Blue Swimming Crab (BSC) management at various scales, as part of an overall ecosystems approach to fisheries management.
The BSC Partnership in the Visayan Sea with the Philippine Department of Agriculture - Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), the Philippine Association of Crab Processors Inc., Chicken of the Sea (Thai Union North America), Saravia Blue Crab Inc., and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program is one of many of the activities of the Fish Right Program.
Through the lens of the BSC, the very real challenges of global market demand pressures on sustainable fisheries management locally, and the degree to which ambitious goals may need more realistic timeframes, in many ways, justifies the need and value of sustaining activities after FR concludes. Despite lingering challenges, the partners are prepared to support and implement BSC sustainability initiatives in the Visayan Sea region for the next 3-5 years which reinforces USAID’s emphasis on building impact-driven partnerships with the public sector, private sector and communities that can endure beyond an initial project.
