Saving Seafood

Red king crab hatchery study provides glimmers of hope for Alaska

March 28, 2024 — A new study that found releasing Alaska red king crab as early as possible after they are reared in a hatchery may improve young crab survival and save operational costs has crab harvesters hopeful.

The study, conducted by scientists from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, showed the best time to release hatchery-reared red king crab is right after they transition from free-swimming planktonic larvae to bottom-dwelling juveniles.

“Red king crab is likely a good candidate for stock enhancement,” the scientists said in their report.

US federal fisheries agency NOAA, universities, state and tribal governments and others are also examining the feasibility of a red king crab hatchery program through the Alaska King Crabs Research, Rehabilitation, and Biology (AKCRRAB) program.

“The next step to effective stock enhancement is developing strategies that maximize post-release survival,” said Chris Long, lead author and research fishery biologist at the agency’s Kodiak Laboratory.

“It’s really exciting,” Jamie Goen, executive director for Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, told IntraFish of the hatchery work. “AKCRRAB and all of its partners has done the research and proof of concept that crab enhancement is possible. Now it’s time to test incrementally scaling it up to see if it could help struggling red king crab populations.”

Read the full article at IntraFish

Regional council opposes further regulations in Bristol Bay savings area

March 12, 2024 — At their February meeting, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided not to move forward with the request to close the Bristol Bay red king crab 4000-square nautical mile saving area to all commercial fishing. The council investigated the effectiveness of closing this eastern Bering Sea section to commercial trawl, pot, and longline fishing. However, they advised that they will not tighten regulations in this area.

The savings box was established in 1996 as a haven for red king crabs. However, other fishing, such as midwater/ pelagic trawlers, pot fishing, and longlining, is allowed in the area. According to the AFDG Status of King Crab Stocks, the area is closed to bottom trawling. The year after the saving box was established, the mature male red king crab stock increased from 8.5 million to 10.5 million.

According to KUCB, at this meeting, the Council also evaluated a pot gear closure of a large section in the eastern portion of Bristol Bay, known as Area 512, to address drops in the Bristol Bay red king crab stock. Trawling has also previously been prohibited in that area.

Read the full article at The National Fisherman

Limited availability of Alaska red king crab gives it dominant market position

December 17, 2023 — This year’s quota for Alaska’s Bristol Bay commercial red king crab season was smaller than usual, but fishermen are reaping the reward of high demand in the lead-up to the holidays.

More than 99 percent of the 2.1-milllion-pound quota has already been caught by 31 vessels, according to KUCB. Alaska Department of Fish and Game Area Management Biologist Ethan Nichols said while the total allowable catch was less than half of the 2018-2019 season, it was still welcomed by the region’s fishermen. Bristol Bay struggled with a financially difficult salmon season this past summer, the Bering Sea snow crab fishery remains closed for a second straight year, and Southeast Alaska’s red and blue king crab fisheries have been closed since 2017.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea

October 10, 2023 — Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab for the first time in two years, offering a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change.

There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and that fishery will remain closed for a second straight year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday.

“The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the prior two seasons were closed based on low abundance and particularly low abundance of mature-sized female crabs,” said Mark Stichert, the state department’s ground fish and shellfish management coordinator,

“Based on survey results from this year, those numbers have improved, some signs of modest optimism in terms of improving abundance in Bristol Bay red king crab overall and that has allowed for a small but still conservative fishery for 2023 as the total population size is still quite low,” he said.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

ALASKA: Crabbers get 2 million pound quota for Bristol Bay red king crab

October 10, 2023 — Alaska fishermen will get a brief respite from crab closures, with a modest three-month opening for Bristol Bay red king crab, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Friday.

Bering Sea crabbers get their shot at Bristol Bay red king crab from Oct. 15 to Jan. 15 under a quota of 2.150 million pounds, 1.95 million pounds of which has been allocated to IFQ holders with the remaining 215,000 pounds reserved for Community Development Quota (CDQ) shares. The Oct. 6 announcement had been predicated upon earlier trawl surveys which indicated a harvestable surplus of crab.

“Based on preliminary review of 2023 NMFS trawl survey and stock assessment results, ADF&G has determined that the estimate abundance of mature size Bristol Bay red king crab exceeds minimum population thresholds established in the state regulatory strategy,” says Ethan Nichols, area management biologist with ADF&G in Dutch Harbor.

The Bering Sea tanner crab population survey also warranted a fishery opening with a quota of 2.8 million pounds. The season opens on Oct. 15 and closes on March 31. 

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Red king crab surveying update has Bering Sea fishermen hopeful

April 18, 2023 — A collaborative survey project began mid-March, funded primarily by NOAA Fisheries, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG), with help from the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation (BSFRF), and the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers trade organization (ABSC). These organizations got two boats back out surveying for 25 days.

This surveying effort will inform spatial management decisions and the possible red king crab season openings as early as the fall. Over a dozen vessels were eager to get back to work, and the two randomly selected were the F/V Summer Bay and F/V Silver Spray.

National Fisherman was able to interview Gabriel Prout of the F/V Silver Spray. Gabriel provided us with the insider scoop from a fisherman’s point of view.

The last two Eastern Bering Sea trawl surveys indicated a continuing decline in Alaska red king crabs in the 2021 and 2022 fall seasons, with female levels falling below the threshold to close the fishery.

More specifically, the surveys showed a continuing low abundance of mature females, while the male king crab has shown some stability. Researchers say the fishery will not open again until the stock levels of females increase enough for it not to be a concern.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Crabbing industry loses fight to prevent fishing in critical Alaskan ecosystem

January 27, 2023 — Fishing in designated areas off the Alaskan coast will continue despite pleas from harvesters and conservation groups to close the crucial habitat known for its red king crabs and allow for minimal disruption during the offseason.

The emergency action would have potentially shut down designated zones in Bristol Bay until at least early summer, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the petition failed to reach criteria to determine that an emergency closure would benefit the sea life population.

Several species of crabs, including the red king, have seen stunning declines over the last decade that has prompted NOAA and other stakeholders to take the extraordinary steps of limiting season fishing in an effort to try to protect crucial populations.

“We are concerned about the diminished sophistication and understanding of marine habitats, which inevitably results in collapses and that are generally only made visible with the disappearance of commercially valuable species,” Marissa Wilson, executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, stated in prepared comments to NOAA.

Read the full story at Fox 7 Austin

Gov. Dunleavy’s office announces formation of Alaska Bycatch Task Force

November 30, 2021 — Fishing vessels cast wide nets, and they often catch more than the species they’re targeting. That’s bycatch: one of the longest-running controversies in the fleet and a vexing problem for fisheries managers. Now, the Dunleavy administration is wading into the debate by naming a task force to study the issue and find ways to make it better for everyone working on the water.

Governor Mike Dunleavy’s office recently announced it’s setting up a task force to tackle the thorny issue of bycatch.

Federal data show trawl fisheries this year in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska have caught tens of thousands of Chinook salmon, millions of pounds of halibut, and in the case of the Bering Sea trawl fisheries, hundreds of thousands of crabs.

Stocks of staple species like Chinook salmon, red king crab, and halibut have been on the decline, forcing subsistence, sport and commercial fishermen to pack up nets or reduce harvest.

Read the full story at KNBA

ALASKA: Dunleavy administration announces formation of bycatch task force

November 22, 2021 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office recently announced that it’s setting up a task force to tackle the thorny issue of trawler bycatch.

Bycatch is what fishermen catch unintentionally — fish they aren’t targeting that get caught up in their nets, anyway. Federal bycatch data shows trawl fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska this year have caught tens of thousands of chinook salmon, millions of pounds of halibut and hundreds of thousands of crabs.

Meanwhile staple species like chinook salmon, red king crab and halibut have been on the decline, forcing subsistence, sport and commercial fishermen to pack up nets or reduce harvest.

“We’ve had a reduction in or closure of the crab fisheries in the Bering Sea. The [North Pacific Fishery Management] Council is discussing how to deal with halibut bycatch, and I think there’s a lot of perception that there are bycatch issues associated with what’s happened with salmon in Western Alaska systems,” said Alaska Fish & Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang.

Read the full story at KTOO

 

Alaska crab population crash blamed on mysterious mortality event

November 5, 2021 — A crash in crab populations in the U.S. state of Alaska is being partially blamed on a mortality event scientists cannot fully explain.

A catastrophic drop in Alaska’s snow crab population led the state to set a much lower quota for the upcoming season. Along with a significant drop to the Bering Sea bairdi crab quota and the closure of the winter Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, Alaska’s overall crab fishery could lose up to USD 100 million (EUR 86.5 million) or more in value in the 2021-2022 season, according to the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource