Blue Swimming Crab | 2013

Blue swimming crabs(Portunus pelagicus complex) are relatively small (< 500 g), short lived (< 4 yrs.), marine crustaceans common in shallow tropical and sub-tropical waters over sandy / muddy substrates in the Western and Eastern Indian Ocean, South East Asia and West Asia.International and domestic markets for fresh (chilled), frozen and pasteurized BSC products have created and continue to drive numerous small scale fisheries throughout South and South East Asia, including two fisheries in Sri Lanka.

pelagikoshas been working with the seafood export industry, coastal fishing communities and government agencies since 2015 to improve the management of BSC fisheries in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar, through the Sri Lanka blue swimming crab fisheries improvement project (SLBSC FIP). The FIP was initiated by the National Fisheries Institute Crab Council (NFI CC) and the Seafood Exporters’ Association of Sri Lanka (SEASL) in 2013.

BSC fisheries in the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar became the first fisheries in Sri Lanka and the only BSC fisheries in South and South East Asia to be eco-recommendedby the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch programme in 2018 (Good Alternative). In 2019 the two fisheries achieved a score equivalent to a Pass with conditions against the Marine Stewardship Council’s Standard for Fisheries. Seafood Watch renewed thefisheries’ eco-recommendedin January 2023.

• MBA Seafood Watch Report 2018
• MBA Seafood Watch Report 2022

The bulletins below document the fisheries’ progress to eco-recommendationover the past nine years. Click to download

Bulletin No. 15 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 14 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 13 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 12 (E / S) / T)
Bulletin No. 11 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 10 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 9 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 8 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 7 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 6 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 5 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 4 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 3 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 2 (E / S / T)
Bulletin No. 1 (E / S / T)

Click here to download useful BSC references