The Bering Sea’s biggest and most lucrative crab fisheries opened last week, and so far, fishing is looking good.
“Fishing has been very good for the (Bristol Bay red king crab) fleet this season and the crab delivered so far has been of high quality — new shell, large size, good meat-fill,” said Ethan Nichols, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game area management biologist for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.
As of Wednesday afternoon, about 29% of the total allowable catch for the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery had been harvested, according to Nichols. He said so far, reports from captains and from observer catch reports show signs of productive fishing.
Nichols said 14 vessels had landed about 680,000 pounds of king crab. The average weight is 6.84 pounds, and the catch rate is 35 legal males per pot. Both of those numbers are up slightly from last year.
The state set the harvest level at about 2.3 million pounds earlier this month, just 7% more than last year’s cap. The fishery was shut down for the two years prior, due to low abundance.
Former Unalaska mayor and fisheries advisor Frank Kelty said recent surveys show that king crab stocks are looking better this year, but the fishery still has room to grow.
“This fishery is still in a depressed state,” Kelty said. “But you know, we saw improvement in some of the mature males and the six-and-a-half legal size crab, but still not a big surge in the juveniles and pre-recruits moving into the fishery yet.”
The state could have given crabbers a larger harvest amount, but chose a more conservative limit to protect the stock. Fisheries officials say they are seeing subtle cues that the population is growing, but want to ensure that a fishery doesn’t compromise that growth.
There are 32 vessels registered for Bristol Bay red king crab, and half of those have now wrapped up for the season.
Harvesters are getting $10 per pound for the massive king crabs. That’s about $2 more than they initially received last year.
There are three vessels registered so far for Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crab, another one of Alaska’s big crab stocks. That fishery also opened Oct. 15. Many boats that finished up kings will switch over to the Tanner fishery once they’ve caught their quota.
Fishermen have nearly 1.8 million pounds of Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crabs to catch, and about 4.5 million pounds of Tanners on the western side. It’s the largest the fishery has been in nearly ten years, according to Fish and Game. Kelty said the fishery is seeing improvements across the board. However, the species showing some of the most surprising growth are snow crabs. That fishery also opened this year after a two-year closure.
Data shows a big jump in both small male and immature female snow crabs.
“It’s still in a depressed state, but with the improvement we saw in the survey in just one year’s difference, it’s remarkable,” Kelty said.
He said the overall numbers for small snow crabs are looking good, and will hopefully take the shape of a larger harvest for fishermen in the next few years.
The crab landings will be a helpful boost for Unalaska’s economy, which has taken a hit in recent years during the king and snow crab closures, he said.
“It’s going to be a shot in the arm for revenues,” Kelty said.
Fish and Game’s Nichols said he expects Bristol Bay red king crab to wrap up by mid- November. He said no boats are registered for Western Tanner crab or snow crab. He expects more effort from about January through March, when those fisheries are traditionally harvested.
