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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. 

Abstract The United States’ current Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) and a potential extension are undergoing review, yet quantitative evaluation of the current program is lacking. The SIMP is a traceability program aimed at reducing imports of seafood products that are of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) origin or associated with seafood fraud. We conducted a quantitative examination of the SIMP’s current scope and design by synthesizing publicly available trade data along with measures of IUU fishing and seafood mislabeling. We found prioritized shipments amounted to 33% of 2016 imported tonnage. The SIMP species groups had higher IUU scores and mislabeling rates relative to non-SIMP groups, but the difference was consistent with random prioritization suggesting potential benefits from program expansion. Furthermore, two-thirds of imported volume lacked a mislabeling rate and 5% lacked species information, underlining the urgent need for improved open-access data on globalized seafood supply chains.