The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday afternoon that Bering Sea fishermen will be allowed to harvest a total of about 4.7 million pounds of opilio, also known as snow crab, for the first time in two years. According to Fish and Game, estimates of total mature male biomass are above the threshold required to open the fishery.
The announcement comes as a surprise to many fishermen, after roughly 10 billion snow crabs disappeared from the Bering Sea over a span of four years, and Fish and Game closed the fishery in 2022. Recently, scientists have learned that the disappearance was likely due to ecological shifts, and there’s been little hope within the industry that stocks would recover anytime soon.
Still, the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Game have analyzed the results from this year’s bottom trawl survey and agree that the volume of male crabs is at a safe limit for fishing. Fish and Game’s decision to open the fishery is based on the recommendation of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which met Friday morning to determine sustainable harvest limits for Alaska’s big three crab stocks.
Fish and Game has set the total allowable catch, or TAC, for snow crab at 4.72 million pounds, including Individual Fishermen’s Quota and Community Development Quota. The last time the fishery was open, harvesters were allotted 5.6 million pounds, although the year before they had a harvest of 40.5 million pounds.
The department also opened the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, which closed for two years in 2021 and reopened last year. Fishermen will have 2.3 million pounds to catch this year, just above last year’s humble but welcome harvest.
Both the red king crab fishery and snow crab open Oct. 15.
