Blue Star Endorses NFI Standard On Minimum Catch Sizes For Blue Swimming Crab
March 10, 2011
The long-term sustainability of blue crab populations has long been a focus to us at Blue Star. We have always done our best to be as progressive and forward thinking as possible when sustainability is concerned. We are actively involved in creating and implementing new initiatives to make sure the condition of the blue swimming crab population stays at healthy levels for future generations.
Our hands-on involvement with organizations like the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) has recently led to industry-wide changes that we believe will have a lasting, positive effect on the sustainability of blue swimming crab populations. The NFI Crab Council recently recommended to the entire membership body a proposal that urges companies to implement minimum size mandates to phase out the purchase and utilization of undersized crabs. As an executive member of this committee with full voting rights, Blue Star voted and helped endorse this proposal to protect blue swimming crab populations.
Some of you might be wondering how undersized crabs can have such an impact on the overall blue swimming crab population. Crabs of this size description are juveniles and haven’t had the opportunity to properly spread their seed (male blue swimming crabs mate several times in their lifetime, and females at this stage are not ready to mate). If juvenile crabs are caught, purchased and utilized without any restriction, overall populations would dwindle very quickly.
