Executive Summary: 2021 State of the Blue Swimming Crab Fishery

This is the third annual ‘State of the Fishery’ report covering the years 2019-2021 produced under the Indonesia Blue Swimming Crab Initiative of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Packard Foundation) and Walton Family Foundation (WFF). The blue swimming crab (BSC, locally referred to as rajungan) fishery is one of three archetypal fisheries being supported by investments from the Packard Foundation and WFF through the BSC Consortium, a group of implementers working on the fishery in four provinces (Central Java, East Java, Lampung, and West Java) that border the Java Sea Fisheries Management Area (FMA, known in Indonesia as Wilayah Pengelolaan Perikanan/ WPP 712). Progress on this work is measured using 14 indicators based on a Theory of Change (TOC) and joint work plan mutually agreed by Consortium members. The indicators fall under four categories: Fishery Health, Fishery Economic Status, National Governance, and Local Governance.

Fishery Health – Indicators A, B

Two indicators are used to measure fishery health. The 2021 results are as follows:

Indicator A: Spawning potential ratio (SPR) indicating stock status. The SPR data is not available for Central and East Java. Data from Lampung has been collected but is still being analyzed and finalized by the Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) and the Lampung Province Sustainable Blue Swimming Crab Fisheries Management Committee (Komite Pengelolaan Perikanan Rajungan Berkelanjutan, KPPRB). Final data will be provided by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and will be officially endorsed by SAG/KPPRB in the coming months as an addendum to this report.

Indicator B: Catch per unit effort (CPUE) CPUE was estimated for a subset of priority fishing gears in selected fishing grounds, showing considerable variability across the fishery. Unlike Indicator A (SPR), there is significant noise in the data for this indicator. Little can be inferred from the results until we have multiple years of data and a standardized collection methodology across the various fisheries. The data is best used to understand the gears in use in each location.

Fishery Economic Status – Indicators D, K, L, M, N

There are five indicators for this aspect of the blue swimming crab work as described below, with the 2021 results for each:

Indicator D: Government budget allocations for blue swimming crab fishery management. Note that the baseline (2019) data have been reviewed with government sources and corrected to be the actual funds allocated to blue swimming crab fisheries and not just “total general fisheries allocation” used in 2019. However, each province has a different way of allocating its budget for fisheries, and there is no specific allocation for blue swimming crab. For Lampung, data was collected from more subjective interviews of government staff by Consortium partners.

Indicator K: Value of blue swimming crab exports per province. Roughly USD 36 million of blue swimming crab exports emanated from Lampung Province in 2021, a 58% increase from the 2020 figure of USD 22.9 million. The increasing value per kilogram and export volume explain the significant increase. Data from Government sources (Fish Quarantine and Inspection Agency, Indonesia acronym: BKIPM) for the other three provinces are not yet available for 2021.

Indicator L: Changes in export price of blue swimming crab. This indicator tracks changes in the export price of blue swimming crab in each of the priority provinces, as reported by Government statistics. The average export price in 2021 is USD 22.96 per kg for Lampung, which is a 55% increase from 2020 prices (USD 14.75).

Indicator M: Percentage of jumbo crab meat in total blue swimming crab meat exports. Since the SPR data for 2021 is not yet available, Indicator M data cannot be estimated.

Indicator N: Variation in fishers’ and collectors’ incomes from blue swimming crab fishery. Baseline data on variations in fishers’ and collectors’ incomes from the fishery was collected in 2019, but no data collection has occurred since that time. In 2019, trap fishers earned between USD 643 and USD 1,411 across three sites in Central and East Java, gillnet fishers in Central Java earned from USD 972 to USD 1,973, and collectors earned from USD 4,277 (East Java) to as much as USD 7,709 (Central Java).

BSC catch. Source: Adobe Stock under Standard License

National Governance – Indicators F, G, J

There are three indicators for this aspect of the blue swimming crab work as described below, with the 2021 results for each:

Indicator F: Progress towards harmonizing WPP-level and provinciallevel blue swimming crab fishery management. Central Java, East Java, West Java and Lampung have all remained at the Category 1 rating under this indicator (provincial-level BSC fishery management plan recognized at the WPP level). The provincial Marine and Fisheries Offices (Dinas Kelautan dan Perikanan, DKP) regularly participated in the WPP 712 meetings conducted by the Fishery Management Council (Lembaga Pengelola Perikanan, LPP)-WPP (LPP-WPP). For Lampung, the provincial DKP and KPPRB regularly participated in Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF; Indonesian: Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan, KKP) meetings such as developing the RPP (Rencana Pengelolaan Perikanan/Fisheries Management Plan), Harvest Strategy, Harvest Control Rule, and Quota Management. The LPP-WPP system in Indonesia remains nonoperational and therefore the Lampug DKP has no formal role as an advisor/member for LPP-WPP 712.

Indicator G: Progress towards ministerial decree of blue swimming crab Harvest Strategy. The Harvest Strategy document defining the limit and target reference points remains at Level 1. In 2021, Consortium members actively provided input and feedback on the Harvest Strategy implementation, however, the harvest strategy has no effort and catch control mechanisms (lacks harvest control rules), it therefore remains an incomplete harvest strategy.

Indicator J: Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) achieving positive performance. The Indonesian Blue Swimming Crab Association (Asosiasi Pengelolaan Rajungan Indonesia, APRI) Gillnet/Fish Trap Fishery is being tracked against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) benchmarks as laid out at FisheryProgress.org. Although the FIP now focuses on sites at Madura Island off the northeast coast of Java, this indicator still tracks the entire Java Sea as the unit of assessment. For 2021, 32% of the FIP’s performance scores were green (pass without conditions), down from 36% last year. On the other hand, a 68% for yellow (pass with conditions) shows an increase from the 46% last year and the 0% in red (fail) indicated a better status than last year’s 18%.

Local Governance – Indicators C, E, H, I

There are four indicators for this aspect of the blue swimming crab work as described below, with the 2021 results for each:

Indicator C: Blue swimming crab committees (supported) demonstrating progress towards adaptive management. This indicator looks at each site (province, district, and village) and rates it on a progress scale from 0 (committee not formed) to 5 (committee practicing adaptive management). 2021 data were updated at the provincial level only. Central Java has maintained the Stage 5 rating from 2019 and Lampung has retained the Stage 4 rating in 2021. West Java progressed from Stage 0 to Stage 1 while East Java progressed from Stage 0 to Stage 3.

Indicator E: Local stakeholder group engagement and empowerment for blue swimming crab fishery management. This indicator rates village-level institutions and middle-persons/mini-plant associations on a progress scale from 0 (loosely organized) to 4 (making fishery management recommendations). In West Java, 11 new organizations have established with support from Starling Resources (SR). Lampung has 17 groups in total, one group less than last year as one group no longer exists due to internal conflict. Central Java and East Java were unable to provide updated data.

Indicator H: Villages implementing blue swimming crab measures. The baseline report highlighted two sites in Central Java (Betahwalang and Gedongmulyo) as having some form of stock data collection and fisher registration; neither has updated information for 2021, and East Java also has no updated data for 2021. Meanwhile, five Lampung villages continue to implement blue swimming crab measures that started in 2019 and have also initiated juvenile closed areas and detection of destructive fishing gears as part of the provincial plan. In West Java, there were 10 newly identified villages in 2021.

Indicator I: Mini-plants in compliance with industry control document. This indicator monitors compliance with minimum landing sizes, correct catch documentation, and no illegal catch (berried and undersized crab <10 cm). The initiative is steered and funded by APRI with support from the National Fisheries Institute (NFI)‘s Crab Council to ensure fishers can keep public statements on their product’s legal and traceable source. 75% of Java-based mini-plants completed audits in 2019, with no audits completed in 2020. In 2021, SFP funded APRI to conduct 49 mini-plant audits covering West Java, Central Java, East Java, and Banten. The 2021 compliance data shows that 60-65% of APRI and NFI-CC supply adheres to national illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing laws. Conversely, this means that, for 2021, 35-39% of catch supplied to APRI from those mini-plants that were assessed (18% of all mini-plants) is IUU, significantly higher than the US International Trade Congress (ITC) estimates of 22.8%.

Indicative results show that the blue swimming crab stock’s health remains in decline. Source: Adobe Stock under Standard License

A limitation of this report is that some data sets remain incomplete for 2021, and the data requires the appropriate science advisory committee and government validation. Unfortunately, this has a knock-on effect for Indicators A (SPR), M (crab meat), and B (CPUE tracking). Government statistics for export prices in 2021 have also not been released as of the publication of this report. Only Lampung shows an increase in prices that is likely representative of the increasing prices for blue swimming crab across Indonesia. Despite this, progress across the indicators during a global pandemic remains impressive. Moving forward, publication of reports should be delayed until the middle of the year to allow all data sets from the previous year to be consolidated and approved by the Science Advisory Groups (SAGs) and Government bodies.

Working with local CSOs, village-based enumerators, local community-based organizations and universities has enabled most Consortium members to continue data collection and work during the pandemic. Overall, the indicative results show the blue swimming crab’s stock health continues in a pattern of slow decline across the Java Sea and will continue that way until there is systematic management that restricts fishing effort. Fishing effort appears to have increased above 2020 levels in line with increased export volumes.

Overall, there is progress in developing institutions to support enabling conditions for governance in the fishery. A mix of the village, district, and provincial-level organizations across Central Java, East Java, and Lampung sustained and, in some cases, improved. In 2022, West Java shall begin to catch up with the other provinces. One weakness, however, is that Government allocations to support the work in each of the provinces remain small, likely due to COVID-19 reallocations. Hopefully, in 2022, counterparts and local buy-in will increase.

In March 2020, the Blue Swimming Crab Harvest Strategy for WPP 712 was approved, clarifying the fishery’s target and limit reference points. This strategy adopts SPR as the primary method for assessing stocks, thus systematizing data collection and monitoring. The harvest strategy is ineffective as it does not yet outline the essential pre-determined management interventions that are triggered when the stock health reaches the lower reference point. Blue swimming crab is a species that spends its entire life within provincial waters, so the best model for managing it is to enable the provincial governments to plan and provide support for district and village-level management. The Ministry is proposing a series of harvest control tests sites in 2022 and Lampung would be an excellent site for testing and collaboration.

Consortium partners have integrated their stock health data collection and enumerator system to provide standardized, regular data directly to the MMAF Stock Assessment Team. Hopefully, APRI can follow this example and share their data sets with the Government to allow proper vetting and independent scientific analysis to substantiate their publicly disseminated data analyses.

Unfortunately, in 2021, the Industry association, APRI, decided to close the door on their partnership in the Consortium. However, members maintain an open-door policy should the association and the National Fisheries Institute Crab Council reengage. Non-APRI processors remain engaged in the field sites. On the other hand, the compelling development of 2021 was a push towards recognizing the inclusivity of fishers’ and women’s voice in management, from the villages to the provinces, and the National Blue Swimming Crab Fishers Network’s (Rajungan Forkom Nelangsa) formation which brings a vital stakeholder more into the management of the fishery.