Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation

 The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (the Foundation) is developing a new Blue Economy program and associated strategy to help envision and provide sustainable revenue generation for the benefit of Sanctuary conservation work across our nation’s 15+ Sanctuaries. This Blue Economy Strategy will be first applied within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in support of its Mission: Iconic Reefs restoration initiative, by building critical revenue-generating initiatives that also support restoration work. Within this first overarching Florida Keys application, work will center around the native Caribbean king crab and its potential to become a novel fishery alongside its primary purpose as a coral reef restoration species. This project will contribute to the Florida Keys application of the Foundation’s Blue Economy Strategy by providing critically necessary background market analysis research for a viability study of the Caribbean king crab (CKC) fishery within the Florida Keys.