November 15, 2023 — Limited availability of king crab and snow crab has boosted U.S. buyer interest, in defiance of a downward sales trend across the seafood category.
On 15 October, the red king crab fishery in Alaska’s Bristol Bay officially opened with a 2.2-million-pound quota, following a two-year closure. As recently as 2016, the total allowable harvest was set at 8.47 million pounds; in 1980, it was 130 million pounds.
November 6, 2023 — Canadian commercial fishermen are hopeful ropeless gear could be a solution to address concerns of right whale entanglements in snow crab fisheries, and recent trials are showing that innovative technology can work along the East Coast of Canada.
New ropeless gear that eliminates the vertical lines that can entangle right whales is one possibility, and fishermen have had positive experiences with it in trials along the East Coast of Canada.
October 31, 2023 — Garrett Kavanaugh grabs a fistful of freshly cooked crab and stuffs it into his mouth, a giant smile on his face, as his feet brace against the rolling sea beneath the deck of his boat.
“Oh yeah,” he says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
As the deck of his 58-foot-long boat rolls on the swells of the Gulf of Alaska, Kavanaugh, 24, cracks another crab leg between his tattooed fingers.
Long months of preparation and anticipation have led to this moment, as Kavanaugh and his three-man crew celebrate the first taste of the Dungeness crabs they’ve hauled up about 50 feet from the sandy ocean bottom off Kodiak Island.
In Alaska, last fall’s shocking collapse of the snow crab fishery shows that conditions for sea life can and are rapidly changing, even in ecosystems that have fed Indigenous people for thousands of years.
So far, this Alaska Dungeness crabbing season is off to a good start. But nothing is certain in these warming waters, where a new study concluded the snow crabs died out because the unusually warm water made their metabolisms run faster, causing them to starve. The study also found that many cod, which traditionally prey on young crabs, had left the area for the colder waters of the northern Bering Sea, “which rarely occurs.”
October 23, 2023 — About 10 billion snow crabs disappeared from Bering Sea waters between 2018 and 2021, forcing fisheries to shutter in Alaska last winter and threatening the state’s economy. Now, scientists think they know what happened to them.
A study published Thursday in the journal Science suggests that the crabs likely suffered a mass starvation event touched off by seasons of extreme ocean heat.
The population crash — from its highest-recorded level in 2018 — shows how marine heat waves, which are made more likely by climate change, can scramble ecosystems and threaten human livelihoods that rely on ocean life.
October 22, 2023 — Billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the ocean around Alaska in recent years, and scientists now say they know why: Warmer ocean temperatures likely caused them to starve to death.
The finding comes just days after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the snow crab harvest season was canceled for the second year in a row, citing the overwhelming number of crabs missing from the typically frigid, treacherous waters of the Bering Sea.
The study, published Thursday by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found a significant link between recent marine heat waves in the eastern Bering Sea and the sudden disappearance of the snow crabs that began showing up in surveys in 2021.
October 10, 2023 — The Bering Sea snow crab fishery will be closed again this year due to population concerns.
Crabbers from the Pacific Northwest who fish in Alaska had been watching and waiting for recommendations from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which met Thursday and Friday. Following the meetings, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said Bering snow crab season will be closed for 2023-2024; Bristol Bay red king crab will open. Tanner crab will also be open for commercial fishermen.
Both the snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab seasons were closed in 2023. Crabbers and industry associations warned of the massive impact the decision would have on many small businesses, prompting calls by Congressional officials for an emergency declaration and federal aid.
Last year was the first time in history the U.S. snow crab fishery was closed. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said the harvests were closed over concerns about long-term conservation and the sustainability of crab stocks.
August 22, 2023 — A recent industry report from Wells Fargo has taken a decidedly neutral stance on the overall outlook for the U.S. seafood industry over the remainder of 2023, referencing positive news for certain species like snow crab but continuing woes for other market sectors to back up its mixed prediction.
The report, “Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute’s Industry Update – Q2 2023,” listed overall food prices and demand as major factors influencing Wells Fargo’s mixed outlook.
July 10, 2023 — My small turboprop plane whirred low through thick clouds. Below me, St. Paul Island cut a golden, angular shape in the shadow-dark Bering Sea. I saw a lone island village — a grid of houses, a small harbor, and a road that followed a black ribbon of coast.
Some 330 people, most of them Indigenous, live in the village of St. Paul, about 800 miles west of Anchorage, where the local economy depends almost entirely on the commercial snow crab business. Over the last few years, 10 billion snow crabs have unexpectedly vanished from the Bering Sea. I was traveling there to find out what the villagers might do next.
The arc of St. Paul’s recent story has become a familiar one — so familiar, in fact, I couldn’t blame you if you missed it. Alaska news is full of climate elegies now — every one linked to wrenching changes caused by burning fossil fuels. I grew up in Alaska, as my parents did before me, and I’ve been writing about the state’s culture for more than 20 years. Some Alaskans’ connections go far deeper than mine. Alaska Native people have inhabited this place for more than 10,000 years.
As I’ve reported in Indigenous communities, people remind me that my sense of history is short and that the natural world moves in cycles. People in Alaska have always had to adapt.
Even so, in the last few years, I’ve seen disruptions to economies and food systems, as well as fires, floods, landslides, storms, coastal erosion, and changes to river ice — all escalating at a pace that’s hard to process. Increasingly, my stories veer from science and economics into the fundamental ability of Alaskans to keep living in rural places.
June 2, 2023 — Inflation is weighing on Americans across income levels. Customers are clearly feeling cautious and making trade off decisions. Private label sales are soaring as consumers trade down on goods. Consumers are still spending money however. Airlines and cruise ships are booked at capacity. But they are still concerned about inflation and cutting back on expensive food items.
According to a Bloomberg survey of economists the odds of a U.S. recession in 2023 are as high as 65%. Consumers still have some stimulus savings and unemployment is low allowing for continued income. Inflation, higher interest rates, the service industry, and lower consumer confidence impact what they are willing to pay for food.
The research firm Circana reported that U.S. consumers are managing their food spending by finding lower cost products than high priced proteins.
The latest example came from Costco whose customers tend to be upper middle class. Costco did not meet Wall Street analysts expectation of growth in the quarter ending May 7. Although the traffic at the stores grew 4.8% customers are walking out with smaller receipts as transactions declined -4.2%. Costco’s CFO stated that sales have shifted from beef to chicken and pork as consumers select lower priced protein. Costco as well as Walmart are actively working with suppliers to lower costs and bring price relief to consumers. Source: Wall Street Journal
Two major events are ongoing and effecting the global crab world. The first event, now embarking on its second year, is the ban of Russian crab in the U.S. and western countries. The second event is that all of Canada snow crab fishery is fully underway now that the Newfoundland/Labrador harvesters and processors have come to an agreement.
Even though there is still Russian king and snow crab in the market (because of its import prior to the ban date of June 23, 2022), some distributors have asked how long it will take to sell the remaining Russian King crab. No one knows for sure although there are some gaps appearing in inventory. However, consumers are not purchasing Russian crab products at the pace previously seen during the pandemic.
May 17, 2023 — Fresh and frozen seafood inflation at U.S. retailers declined in April, but sales still continued to drop last month.
Due to inflation and concerns about the federal government raising the borrowing cap, U.S. consumer sentiment plummeted to a six-month low in April, according to a University of Michigan survey. The overall index of consumer sentiment is at 57.7 this month, the lowest reading since last November and down from 63.5 in April, according to Reuters.