Blue swimming crabs, once plentiful in the Ban Don Bay off the east coast of Thailand, are a crucial part of the local community's livelihoods. These crabs account for 80% of the locals' income, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports, but because of the high catch rates, the blue swimming crab population has been dwindling.
Local fisher Sutham Hemmanee noticed the problem, and female blue swimming crabs with the potential to produce millions of offspring were still being hunted, so he decided to do something about it.
With the help of UNEP, local fishers like Hemmanee began creating safe havens called "crab banks" where crabs and other crucial marine life could breed and produce offspring.
Seeing the urgency of this project, the Thai Ministry of Environment and Fisheries collaborated with UNEP, private organizations, local governments, and the affected communities to create a 900-acre marine sanctuary in Ban Don Bay.
"The blue swimming crab is key to our livelihoods," Hemmanee said. "Since my grandfather's generation, we have been crab fishers. I worry about what the next generation will have left if we don't change our ways."
In addition to creating these sanctuaries, harmful fishing practices have been phased out, and local fishers have agreed to slow down activity during crucial crab spawning periods.
Crab banks have already shown success. Somsak Makhathan, the manager of one of the crab banks, said the local crab population has increased by 60% with his bank releasing around 100,000 crabs back into the sea every month.
And they are not stopping there, this UNEP-led project is part of the larger regional Fisheries Refugia Initiative to preserve marine habitats in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand. The success of their approach comes down to their focus on sustainability, rather than strict no-fishing laws.
The project has already expanded to other countries in the area, establishing over 1.3 million hectares (around 3.2 million acres) of marine life sanctuaries for several different species across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
"The lessons learned from the South China Sea region will serve as a model for other areas facing similar challenges, paving the way for more holistic approaches to fisheries and habitat conservation worldwide," Leticia Carvalho, Head of the Marine and Freshwater branch at UNEP, said.
"If we don't work together," Hemmanee said, "the crabs will become nothing more than a legend."
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