The Sri Lankan Blue Swimming Crab Fishery Improvement Project has been honoured with a Best Projects Sustainability Award 2021 by Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was first established in 1839 and awards those companies that stand out as corporate citizens. This is the first seafood entity to be honoured for 14 years.
“This FIP has long been a precompetitive collaboration focused not only to the health of the resource but the health of the communities that harvest it, the very definition of sustainable and socially responsible seafood,” said managing director of Taprobane Seafoods, Timothy O’Reilly.
“For our company, commitment to this kind of work is fundamental to who we are and how we operate.”
Over its lifetime the FIP has focused on improving the biological status of the stock, reducing ecological impact, strengthening management and growing the economic benefit to local communities.
“This is the kind of holistic approach to sustainability and management that can fundamentally change the trajectory of a fishery,” said Bryan Rosenberg, chief executive of Thai Union North America, which distributes Chicken of the Sea brand crabmeat from Sri Lanka.
The National Fisheries Institute Crab Council congratulated the FIP on its award. “We know the progress being highlighted today did not come over night but after nearly a decade of hard work,” said Ed Rhodes, NFI Crab Council executive director.
