October 12, 2013 — Bering Sea crabbers feel like they've been “rammed” by Congress, even though what they really need is the reopening of RAM — the federal Restricted Access Management program — so they can fish in time to sell on the lucrative Japanese New Year's market.
Tuesday’s scheduled opening of the valuable Bristol Bay red king crab season could be delayed because of the shutdown of federal agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service's RAM program, which issues individual fishing quota permits.
"We're pretty concerned about it," said crab fishermen's representative Jake Jacobsen of the Inter Cooperative Exchange (ICE). "We can't set pots until we have an IFQ permit on board the vessel." He hopes the RAM staff in Juneau will soon be "unfurloughed."
Nov. 12 king crab deadline
Tuesday’s scheduled opening of the valuable Bristol Bay red king crab season could be delayed because of the shutdown of federal agencies including the National Marine Fisheries Service's RAM program, which issues individual fishing quota permits.
"We're pretty concerned about it," said crab fishermen's representative Jake Jacobsen of the Inter Cooperative Exchange (ICE). "We can't set pots until we have an IFQ permit on board the vessel." He hopes the RAM staff in Juneau will soon be "unfurloughed."
Read the full story from the Alaska Dispatch