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1. Executive summary
The Marine Stewardship Council MSC pre-assessment of the Thailand Portunus pelagicus blue swimming crab trap and bottom gillnet fishery was undertaken by Richard Banks Lead Assessor,
MRAG Americas and Bob Trumble Vice President, MRAG Americas. Richard Banks is an assessor with work experience in South East Asia, the Pacific and Australia. Bob Trumble is the Vice President
of MRAG Americas and coordinator for this project. The pre-assessment was conducted in the period from 7 October to 20 October inclusive and
involved site visits to Bangkok, Trat, Rayong, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Chumphon, Phang Nga and Trang. Key stakeholders consulted in the assessment process included the Department of
Fisheries DoF, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources DMCR, the Thai Crab Product Group, scientists, vessel owners, fishermen and NGOs.
The main strengths identified during the assessment include:
Stock assessments are undertaken in most offshore fisheries and one coastal fishery. The stock status for the offshore fishery appears to be in a reasonable condition;
Information systems are in place, but there is limited information on fleet structure, especially in coastal fisheries;
Research activities would appear to be in place, but it is unclear how comprehensive this may be across the range of the fishery;
There are reasonably strong engagement processes that deal with endangered, threatened, and protected ETP species interactions and promotion of environmental awareness;
Governance structures are in the process of development with a new fisheries Act in draft. The national fisheries strategy confirms application of the precautionary principle and
ecosystem approach to fisheries management, but these have yet to be adopted in practice; and
Roles and responsibilities are clearly identified. These include fisheries Department of Fisheries and ecosystem managers Department of Marine and Coastal Resources,
researchers Marine Fisheries Research and Development Bureau and key stakeholders Thai Crab Product Group, village tambon groups and fishing vessel owners.
The main weaknesses include: Stock status is likely to be over exploited for the fishery as a whole, but heavily over
exploited in coastal areas; Limit and target reference points have not been set nor incorporated into management;
There are no fishery specific harvest strategies, nor rules in place; There are some localised management measures in place, including crab banks and
voluntary no take zones, including the preservation of crab habitat sea grass beds. These are by no means widespread throughout the coastal communities, but evidence suggests
that initiatives such as these are being encouraged; There is limited information on fleet structure;
There is limited data on retained and bait fish species affected or applied by the two fishing methods
– traps and bottom set gill nets; and There is no fishery specific management plan in place nor supporting management systems
that would ensure appropriate management actions would be implemented.
2 In its current state, the fishery would fall below the MSC standard for all three principles. It is
expected that the results from this pre-assessment will support the development of a Fisheries Improvement Project FIP process, which would seek to improve the environmental performance of
the fishery to a level consistent with the MSC standard.
2. Introduction
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