An overview of the brown crab (Cancer pagurus) fisheries and stock trends in the Northeast Atlantic

This report provides a summary of the issues faced by the brown crab fisheries in Europe and describes the main trends by country, focusing on landings, fishing effort, stock status indicators, and stock assessments. Brown crabs are commercially harvested for human consumption by both inshore and offshore fishing fleets, using mostly pots and traps. The largest brown crab fisheries take place around the coasts of the UK, Ireland, northern France, and Norway, with catches feeding into a predominantly European market. There is a general lack of information on brown crab population dynamics; and data is lacking on certain aspects of their biology, such as growth rate and stock structure. The absence of regulation on catch limits, combined with relatively high market values, makes this species vulnerable to over-fishing. In recent years, ICES Working Group on the Biology and Life History of Crabs (WGCRAB) has expressed concern over declining catch rates and uncertain exploitation levels of brown crab in many of the management units within the ICES area. Landings of brown crab in northern Europe have been decreasing since 2016. Despite this, some new fisheries have emerged and catch rates are stable or increasing in Scandinavia and in the southern North Sea. Countries with a long tradition of fishing for brown crab have developed sampling programmes, but there are no systematic data collection programmes for more recent fisheries. Most stocks are managed solely using minimum conservation reference sizes: a strategy that protects small and immature animals but does not consider the economic and ecological viability of fishing. There is a need for improved management in brown crab fisheries to incorporate objectives for both sustainable and viable fishing and balance the productive capacity of stocks and the fleets involved.