In this new post series, we would like to introduce to you our five ongoing beta trial fisheries. These beta trials have been running for a few months and aim to test some of the core pieces of our program, namely the self-assessment, the 3rd party evaluation process with a group of 5 global Conformity Assessment Bodies or CABs and the initiation of an improvement phase, if the fishery doesn’t yet meet all the target requirements. We’re starting with our friends in Scotland – Orkney Crab.
Based off the northeast coast of Scotland, the fishery mainly targets brown crab (Cancer pagurus) using creels, as well as velvet crabs and lobsters. Orkney Crab themselves buy, process and sell the fishery’s catch, producing around 1000mt of brown crab per year.
Orkney Crab describe the biggest barrier they face in accessing markets as the achievement of ‘seafood sustainability’. “Seafood sustainability and traceability is increasingly and understandably becoming an important part of the seafood industry chain with customers wanting to know more and more… before securing products.” The main aspiration of Orkney Crab with regards to the markets is to reassert themselves, in terms of quality, reliability and sustainability efforts, wanting to demonstrate “that our crab and lobster are meeting sustainability standards expected by consumers.”
So far the trial is going well with the Orkney Crab team saying that “the vision and objectives of Community Catch are clear in supporting communities and small-scale fisheries in developing their sustainable practices and improving market access.” The next step in the process is the deployment of the fisher survey, a tool we aim to use to gather additional information directly from fishermen. This allows the CAB to triangulate incoming information from the self-assessment process and ensure we hear directly from active fishers. The evaluation of the self-assessment and the fisher survey by Control Union, the CAB allocated to this trial, has already commenced. We look forward to seeing how well the Orkney fishery measures up to the standard.
Stay tuned for our next trial fishery profile post. Photo credit: Colin Keldie