Brachyuran crab fisheries in Chile: challenges and opportunities for rising demand

Rising global seafood demand poses increasing challenges for sustainable fishery management. This is particularly the case in the Global South, where many small-scale fisheries are likely to expand as they gain access to larger markets. Using Chile as a case study, we assess brachyuran crab fisheries and provide a forward-looking view on the sustainability challenges of possible increases in demand by bringing together data on supply, demand, management, and, literature review. Dominated by two species (Metacarcinus edwarsii and Cancer porteri), production has centered in southern Chile and has fluctuated over the past decade, with landings declining since 2018. Between 20% and 30% of crab caught is exported, mostly to the United States and Belgium. In Belgium Chile is the third largest supplier. Few management regulations and monitoring programs exist. Limited spatio-temporal stock assessments, suggests the status of the dominant crab species may be jeopardized. Apart from ecology, the state of knowledge is limited across socio-economic, market, and fisheries management dimensions. There are initiatives to improve with an established Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) in southern Chile. However, the lack of evidence of policy and management improvements has inactivated the FIP until the developed management plan proposal, based on an adaptive and precautionary approach (considering biological, ecological, economic, and social objectives) be approved by the government. This work reveals the importance of understanding the dynamics between supply and demand from holistic perspectives as well as the role of local efforts for resource sustainability in the context of increasing national and global crab demand.