Alaska Crab Fisheries Enter Peer Review Stage

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute says that Alaska’s crab fisheries have entered the peer review stage for FAO-based responsible fisheries management certification. The review will include Bering Sea/Aleutian Island king and snow crab, Bristol Bay red king crab, St. Matthew blue king crab, and Eastern Bering Sea snow crab commercial fisheries.

Based on the technical expertise required to carry out the fishery assessment, Global Trust Certification Ltd. has chosen for its external peer review team Earl Krygier and Jerry Ennis. Krygier is a retired long time employee of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game who also served as the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation’s cooperative research coordinator. Ennis is a retired researcher from the University of Liverpool’s Department of fisheries and Oceans.

Peer review is a technical review of the evidence documented by the assessment team that demonstrates the level of conformity of the fishery to the FAO code and guides. Ultimately, peer reviewers provide a critical evaluation of the consistency of the recommendation made by the assessment team as to whether the fishery is recommended for certification.

The peer review must be undertaken by two independent experts who are not members of the certifying body nor the assessment team. The outcome of the peer review is included in the final assessment report and is submitted, along with any assessment team responses to peer comments, to the certification committee.

More information is at http://sustainability.alaskaseafood.org/crab-certification