Training for the NFI Crab Council’s Control Document is underway with a weeklong workshop (November 23-28) in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Led by APRI and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, the instructional course will educate fishery stakeholders on the administration of the Control Document’s product sourcing platform.
Earlier this year, the NFI Crab Council enacted a policy that called for the testing of a Control Document system to monitor the sustainable harvest of blue swimming crabs. Through an oversight system, the Control Document restricts the catch of berried and undersized crabs with measures that establish control points throughout the supply chain. Instances of illegal crab in handling facilities are recorded, subject to inspection by a third party auditor and face marketplace repercussions. The Control Document builds on harvest policies already adhered to by Crab Council members.
Present at the meeting are FIP managers, representatives from each APRI member, Fish Inspection and Quarantine Agency officials and university researchers. The robust agenda will cover the theory and practical implementation of the Control Document at all levels of the fishery. Workshop participants will be instructed how to regulate crab product at landing sites, cooking stations, miniplants and processing plants with onsite training.
The educational workshop comes as the first step in the Control Document’s pilot testing. Results from the provisional implementation will be used to further refine the Control Document.