Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Alaska seafood harvesting jobs are up for the first time since 2019

November 6, 2026 — Last year, Alaska saw the biggest increase in seafood harvesting jobs in more than a decade, according to a recent report from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Seafood harvesters include permit holders and boat crews. Their numbers increased by 4% over the previous year, averaging over 200 more jobs per month than in 2024.

That growth follows a five-year decline, with harvesting job numbers hitting an all-time low in 2024 since data collection began more than two decades ago.

Economist Joshua Warren authored the report for Alaska Economic Trends, the labor department’s magazines. He said that five-year decline was in large part due to the pandemic.

“Other industries saw some level of return once COVID measures stopped, but those trends just seemed to continue for seafood harvesting,” Warren said.

On top of that, Warren said some fisheries closed — like red king crab and snow crab in the Bering Sea — and others saw reduced catch limits. But last year there weren’t any new closures.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

 

Satellite tagging offering NOAA better understanding of red king crab migration patterns

November 3, 2026 — Research led by NOAA Fisheries found that red king crab migrations off the coast of Alaska are impacted by environmental factors, implying that regulators need more flexible tools to effectively manage the species.

In order to research why red king crab populations in Bristol Bay, Alaska, U.S.A. were migrating at certain times of year, researchers conducted satellite tagging research from the late spring of 2021 to the fall of 2024.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Satellite Tags Reveal Red King Crab Migrations Are Linked to Environmental Conditions

October 30, 2026 — The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery was once one of the largest and most valuable crab fisheries in the world, but it collapsed in the early 1980s. Managers established closure areas to help the population rebound, but the boundaries of these closure areas are fixed and cannot adapt to changing environmental conditions and shifting crab distributions. Previous research has documented northward movements of the Bristol Bay red king crab population. Changes in their seasonal migration patterns may limit the effectiveness of static closure areas like the Red King Crab Savings Area.

In response to this pressing management need, a new satellite tagging study tracked and modeled movements of mature male red king crab in Bristol Bay from late spring through the fall during 2021–2024. The research team’s “movement models” predicted that red king crab generally moved to the west or southwest by the fall—into deeper and cooler areas in central Bristol Bay. In years with warmer bottom water temperatures, crab moved further west. The model’s predictions were validated by commercial catches from the fall Bristol Bay red king crab fishery and researchers are currently applying this approach to other seasons.

Future applications in the winter and spring may provide important insights about movements during mating and molting. These are the times of the year when the crab are more vulnerable. This information will help fishery managers evaluate current closure area boundaries and inform future boundary changes that may be needed to better align with present and projected seasonal migration patterns.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

ALASKA: Bering Sea crabbers buoyed by increased catch limits this season

October 13, 2026 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently released catch limits for the upcoming Bering Sea crab seasons. The seasons for Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea snow crab and Tanner crab open on Thursday.

The Bristol Bay red king crab total allowable catch is up over half a million pounds from last year, set at 3.4 million pounds this season.

The Tanner, or Bairdi crab, limit increased significantly to 32.1 million pounds, with most of that — 27.2 million pounds — in the western Bering Sea.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Alaska announces total allowable catch for red king, Tanner, and snow crab for 2026-27 season

October 9, 2026 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) released total allowable catch (TAC) numbers for Alaskan red king crab, Tanner crab, and snow crab ahead of the 15 October season opening.

“These TACs reflect the continued careful, science-based management of Alaska’s crab stocks,” Mark Pedersen, CEO of crab processor and wholesaler Keyport, said in a release. “Harvest levels remain measured, and at the same time, the cost of fishing, processing, and getting crab to market continues to climb.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: 2026-27 catch limits set for red king, snow, and Bairdi crab

October 8, 2026 — Alaska crab fishermen will head into the 2026-27 season with total allowable catches set for Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea snow crab, and Bairdi Tanner crab, with all three fisheries scheduled to open Oct. 15.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) set the Bristol Bay red king crab TAC at 3.41 million pounds, while the Bering Sea snow crab, or opilio, TAC was set at 5.1 million pounds, according to an Oct. 6 release from seafood supplier Keyport LLC.

Bairdi Tanner crab will account for the largest harvest, with a combined 32.1 million pounds available across the eastern and western Bering Sea. The western Bering Sea TAC is set at 27.2 million pounds, while the eastern Bering Sea TAC is 4.9 million pounds.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Managers use last year’s fishery to set Southeast Alaska’s red king crab harvest goals

October 2, 2026 — Southeast Alaska’s first consecutive commercial red king crab fishery in decades opens Nov. 1.

Expectations for the season are underpinned by knowledge from last year’s fishery.

“I definitely think guys are excited. I think they know what to expect after last year,” said Adam Messmer, regional shellfish biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Messmer said the upcoming fishery will be managed much like last year, with some changes based on what fishermen and state managers saw that season.

“We got a little bit better handle on where crab was coming out of, and where crab wasn’t coming out of, and where there was effort,” Messmer said.

Read the full article at KFSK

ALASKA: Southeast gets rare back-to-back red king crab season

September 11, 2025 — Commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska will get another shot at red king crab this fall, marking the region’s first back-to-back fisheries in more than two decades.

 The 2026/27 Southeast Alaska commercial red and blue king crab fishery will open as a competitive fishery at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, with a regionwide guideline harvest level of 213,076 pounds, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).

It will be the second consecutive year the Southeast fishery has opened following several years without one. The last time the region saw consecutive commercial red king crab fisheries was from 2001 through 2003.

“So, you know, 20-plus years since we’ve had fisheries back to back,” Adam Messmer, ADF&G regional shellfish biologist, told KFSK.

This year’s 213,076-pound guideline harvest level is slightly higher than last year’s harvest level. ADF&G developed its estimates by surveying seven bays and assessing the available crab stock. Messmer said this year’s consecutive opener is being supported by a population increase in several bays.

Readv the full article at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Commercial red king crab fishery to open in Southeast Alaska for second year in a row

September 8, 2026 — Commercial red king crab fishermen in Southeast Alaska are getting a competitive fishery this year, the state Department of Fish and Game announced this week.

The fishery starts Nov. 1.

It’s the second year in a row that the fishery will open, after several years of not having one.

Adam Messmer, regional shellfish biologist for the department, said it’s the first time since 2001-03 that the region is getting a consecutive fishery.

“So, you know, 20-plus years since we’ve had fisheries back to back,” Messmer said.

Read the full article at KFSK

New tool could predict ocean acidity in Bering Sea

August 10, 2026 — Crab populations in the Bering Sea are struggling. And researchers say climate change is a big cause. A new tool described in a study published Aug. 3 in the Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans will help researchers predict one of climate change’s biggest threats to crabs: ocean acidity. The study’s authors hope their work can help crabbers and fishery managers.

“I’m excited with this new model and study,” said Jamie Goen, the executive director of the nonprofit trade association Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “It will help us better understand what could be happening and how that might impact fisheries.”

Darren Pilcher, the study’s lead author and an oceanographer at the University of Washington, said he started the study because of requests from fisheries stakeholders.

The ocean absorbs a quarter of our carbon emissions, which make the water more acidic when the two mix. Acidic conditions are harmful for many different animals. This is especially true for shellfish, like crabs.

“They can eat more, and that helps a little bit, only to a certain point,” Pilcher said. “In fact, in some of the previous experiments with red king crab, if you lower the pH to a value of 7.5, the crab just die.”

Scientists have pointed to factors from climate change, like ocean acidification, as the reason the number of Bristol Bay red king crabs has plummeted in recent years. Goen said that other species, like snow crab, have also tanked.

Read the full article at KMXT