Tag Archives: NOAA Fisheries biologist Braxton Dew
NMFS survey delivers more bad news to Bering Sea crab fleet
A Bering Sea survey by federal scientists contains more bad news for Alaska, Washington and Oregon-based crabbers hoping for an upturn in upcoming harvests that last year fell to rock-bottom levels. The federal survey results for Bristol Bay king crab are bleak and crabbers have been warned that for a second consecutive year there may not be a fall harvest, according to Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We have got an emergency,” Goen said. “I’m trying to get Congress to act to help.” The National Marine Fisheries Service survey does offer hope for improved harvests three to five years from now, as young snow crabs grow to adult size. >click to read< 12:20
For the first time in over 25 years, Bristol Bay red king crab harvest halted for 2021-22
The announcement came as a surprise to many in the crab industry, even those aware of the downward trend in female red king crab since 2012, and a downward trend in Bering Sea snow crab abundance. According to a NOAA survey report the total mature male biomass of commercial crab stocks in the eastern Bering Sea in 2021 was the lowest on record and 2021 biomass estimates continued a declining trend that began in 2015. The decline in crab biomass and abundance was most notable for snow crab, with abundance estimates for mature male and female snow crab down 55% and 70% respectively, the report said.,, In April, PEER filed a complaint on behalf of former NOAA Fisheries biologist Braxton Dew, charging the federal fisheries agency with paving the way for collapse,,, NOAA Fisheries had attributed the sudden loss of millions of crabs to “a drastic increase in natural mortality” and “massive die-offs,” claims for which no evidence has materialized, >click to read< 14:24
