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Results for crabs

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Author: World Wildlife Fund

Title: Illegal Russian Crab: An Investigation of Trade Flow

Summary: World Wildlife Fund investigated the trade flow of illegal and legal crab harvested from Russian waters throughout the Pacific Rim to better understand the likelihood of U.S. importation of illegally harvested Russian crab, as well as conservation concerns associated with overharvest of crab from Russian waters. This report found the following: - Official customs data from South Korea, Japan, China and the United States indicate that in 2013, these four countries (which account for nearly all of Russia's official crab exports) imported 1.69 times as much live and frozen crab from Russia as official Russian harvest levels. Over the past decade, the level of overharvest due to illegal crab harvesting was two to four times the legal limit, causing grave concern about the sustainability of several Russian Far East crab species. - Foreign-flagged vessels harvest crab illegally in Russian waters, and some Russian-flagged vessels either overharvest or harvest crab illegally. Misdeclaring product quantities, off-loading undeclared product onto a transport vessel at sea, or delivering undeclared crab (or declared using fake documentation) directly to a foreign port are known techniques to launder crab. Foreign ports receiving Russian crab are typically in Japan and South Korea and are also likely to be intermediary stop-offs or final destinations for illegal Russian crab. - WWF examined the Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals for 32 vessels believed to have delivered crab to Hokkaido, Japan in early 2012. Two foreign-flagged vessels showed a pattern that indicated harvesting in Russian waters and three foreign-flagged vessels approached the Russia-Japan maritime border, which could indicate transshipment. Five Russian-flagged vessels showed a pattern of possible harvesting in Russian waters and motoring directly to ports in Japan without stopping in a Russian port first to register the catch, therefore potentially violating Russian law (if crab or other seafood from Russian waters was off-loaded in Japan). - Several species of crab are commercially important to both Alaska and Russian crab fisheries, but the highest value is garnered by red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus). King crab is consumed in large quantities in the United States with the source of this crab generally split between domestic harvests from Alaska and imports from Russia. On average over the last ten years, three-quarters of the king crab consumed in the U.S. market is from Russia. With 21% of total U.S. crab imports coming from Russia in 2012, the United States is likely importing crab that was harvested illegally. - The current U.S. system for seafood imports is not able to detect or block every shipment of illegally harvested crab. Currently, seafood-tracking systems that verify legality are not in common practice. - In recent years, Russia has worked to shrink the illegal crab problem by developing bilateral agreements with Japan and South Korea, developing a national plan of action to address illegal fisheries, and continued enforcement at-sea. Yet the problem is multilateral and it demands a multilateral solution.

Details: Anchorage, Alaska: World Wildlife Fund Arctic Field Program, 2014. 40p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 3, 2015 at: http://assets.worldwildlife.org/publications/733/files/original/WWF_Illegal_crab_report_final_15_Oct_2014.pdf?1413407573

Year: 2014

Country: International

URL: http://assets.worldwildlife.org/publications/733/files/original/WWF_Illegal_crab_report_final_15_Oct_2014.pdf?1413407573

Shelf Number: 134522

Keywords:
Crabs
Illegal Fisheries
Illegal Seafood
Illegal Wildlife Trade
Wildlife Crime (Russia)