Tag Archives: red king crab
The crab kings
Near the end of 1991, the residents of Bugøynes, then a village of about 300 people in Norway’s Arctic north, ran an ad in the national newspaper Dagbladet, begging somebody to relocate them en masse. Cod and other whitefish, once Bugøynes’ bread and butter, were disappearing, and no one was quite sure why. One cold afternoon this past February, Leif Ingilæ rolls a cigarette and laughs hoarsely as he recalls the results. “We got offers from French vineyards to move all the residents there to pick grapes,” he says. “But we figured if everyone goes, we would all become alcoholics.” Mostly, the younger generation moved south in search of work, while the lifers survived on unemployment benefits. Ingilæ, whose family goes back generations in Bugøynes, first went to sea in 1967, when he was 15 years old. When the newspaper ad ran, it seemed his time in the area was up; his boat was one of just three anchored in Bugøynes’ harbor. Still, he stayed. photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:55
Deadliest Catch’ Season 20: Which Captains Will Return?
Deadliest Catch is back. In the landmark 20th season of the Discovery Channel reality series, the captains will encounter new opportunities and fresh challenges as they head out to sea for the first red king crab season in several years. Not only will crews be allowed to fish once more for the coveted red king crab, but this year, they’ll also participate in the first derby-style race in decades. That means even more intense competition than usual as both veteran and rookie captains fight to bring in the biggest hauls. At the same time, they’ll face unpredictable and dangerous weather patterns as a rare super El Niño weather pattern intensifies winter storms. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:51
Alaska crabbers get creative with pop-up sales, but industry’s fate uncertain
With Alaska’s Bering Sea snow crab fishery shut down for the second year in a row, crabbers are having to make tough decisions and find creative ways to earn income, like selling direct to Anchorage consumers, sometimes in parking lots. A hand-painted sign on an Anchorage street corner and a hanging sign with the words “Live Alaskan King Crab” were enough to draw in customers to a Spenard parking lot that had become home to one of the shellfish pop-up sales. The live crab sale was in its fourth day on Nov. 2 and had already sold more than three-quarters of the 700 red king crabs hauled out from the Bering Sea. In an attempt to make up some lost income, third-generation fisherman Gabriel Prout brought red king crab to Anchorage to sell directly to consumers. Photos, >>click to read<< 09:16
As the once-lucrative Bering Sea crab harvest resumes, Alaska’s fishers face challenges
In the short term, Alaska crab fishers and the communities that depend on them will get a slight reprieve from the disastrous conditions they have endured for the past two years, with harvests for iconic red king crab to open on Sunday. In the long term, the future for Bering Sea crab and the people who depend on it is clouded by environmental and economic upheaval. The decision by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to open harvests of Bristol Bay red king crab after an unprecedented two-year shutdown was a close call, a state biologist told industry members during a meeting on Thursday. >>click to read<< 16:08
Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea
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. >>click to read<<11:52
Commercial crab fishery closed for 2023-2024 season
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has closed the commercial red and blue king crab fishery for the 2023-2024 season, the sixth year in a row, citing stock survey numbers that remain well below the regulatory threshold. The announcement made Wednesday is a blow to commercial fishers, who saw a significant drop in prices for chum (dog) and pink (humpback) salmon this year. “If they would open up the crab season for 10-15 days it would help bail us out of a terrible season,” said Norval Nelson, owner and operator of Star of the Sea, which was in Aurora Harbor. He made his comments before he learned of the news. >>click to read<<17:27
Council to reconsider red king crab closure options
Regulators are inching closer to closing areas of Bristol Bay to commercial groundfish fishing in an attempt to help conserve the depleted red king crab there. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has requested more information for a second evaluation of options for what to do about the Bristol Bay Red King Crab fishery. At its meeting from June 6-11 in Sitka, the council tweaked some of the options for closures and asked its staff to gather more information for another review at its next meeting. The current options issue annual closures for part of Bristol Bay to all commercial groundfish gear types, though one option excludes non-pelagic trawl. >click to read< 09:40
In Depth: Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
The late 1990s and early 2000s were boomtimes for halibut fishermen in Alaska. Over 80 million pounds of the flatfish were being harvested annually. Deckhands could earn $250,000 a season. The small boat harbor in the southcentral city of Homer, known as the “halibut capital of the world,” was bustling. Erik Velsko, 39, was one of those fishermen. He started buying annual shares in 2001 when the halibut population was at near historic highs. But within a few years, the stock plummeted by more than half and the quotas for commercial fishermen were slashed accordingly. Halibut wasn’t the only so-called directed fishery to experience such a catastrophic drop. The crab fleet — made famous in the reality show “Deadliest Catch” — has been mostly stuck in port for two years after the near total collapse of the snow crab population and the decades long decline of red king crab. Photos, >click to read< 11:42
Urgent research to be undertaken on Bristol Bay Red King Crab
Urgent crab research will be getting underway in mid-March thanks to funds provided by both Alaska Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries, according to reports from Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. The research is expected to use two chartered crab vessels with three scientists each, plus crew, to conduct research on Bristol Bay red king crab, including a pot survey, tagging, and gear studies. It will span roughly 25 days and begin in mid-March. The survey will set out to accomplish three main goals that may help inform management decisions in the future and will lay out important groundwork for future studies, >click to read< 08:31
Deadliest Catch: Season 18 – The fight to stay in business
“Over the past 17 seasons, audiences have watched the legendary Deadliest Catch captains navigate treacherous seas, intense rivalries and even saw them fight to stay in business last year when the entire fishery almost shut down, but nothing could have prepared these captains for the loss of fishing the lucrative red king crab. For the first time in 25 years, the Alaskan government shut down red king crab catching for the season. Facing financial ruin, each captain is forced to start over and search the Bering Sea for a new way to make a living. Are these captains up for the challenge? Or will they pack up and head home empty handed? Trailer, >click to read< 10:51
Crab crash: Effects of collapsed Bering Sea crab stocks are being felt far beyond the fleet
The crash in Bering Sea crab stocks is translating to serious impacts for fishermen and communities across the Western Alaska coast. From the top, the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is closed entirely this season for the first time since the 1990s, while the Bering Sea snow crab total allowable catch was reduced by nearly 90 percent. In the meantime, fishermen who depend on crab are dealing with the fallout of those cuts this year. Gabriel Prout of Kodiak was waiting out a storm in the Akutan harbor last week, after finishing up his snow crab season. The F/V Silver Spray, the vessel he owns with his father and brothers, was only able to go out for 100,000 pounds of snow crab. Of that, they only caught about 75,000 pounds because the fishing was so slow; they traded the rest of the quota for bairdi and headed south. >click to read< 17:39
NPFMC wrestles with crab crisis – Disagreement in industry on expanding red king crab savings area
Commercial crab crews normally embarked on the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery are on the docks this October, with their fishery closed for lack of sufficient stocks, while federal fishery managers ponder how to restore the abundance required for the harvest to resume in coming seasons. During its October meeting, held virtually because of the ongoing pandemic, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to request an analysis on likely impacts of expanding the red king crab savings area through emergency rule to shift the northern boundary from,,, >click to read< 08:15
Valuable crab populations are in a ‘very scary’ decline in warming Bering Sea
The forecast for the 2022 winter snow crab season is bleak. At best, it is expected to be considerably less than 12 million pounds. That would be down from a 2021 harvest of 45 million pounds,,, The iconic Bering Sea red king crab, which can grow up to 24 pounds with a leg-span up to 5 feet, also are in trouble. In a big blow to the commercial crabbers, many of whom are based in Washington, the October harvest for these crab has been canceled, something that has only happened three times before. Overall conservation measures are expected to wipe out most of the value of the annual Bering Sea crab harvest, worth more than $160 million during the past year, according to Jamie Goen, executive director of the Seattle-based Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. >click to read< 13:54
Bering Sea crab fleet braces for another blow
The commercial fishery has been around since 1966. In the 55 years since then, there have been just two other closures: once in the 1980s and again in the 1990s. The species is world-renowned and was largely made famous by the popular reality tv show “Deadliest Catch.” “It’s big news, and it’s hitting our industry really hard,” said Jamie Goen, executive director for Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers,,, “We’re disappointed and deeply concerned.” But, she said, it’s not only the fishermen who will be impacted. This hit affects everyone in the industry, roughly 70 vessels and over 400 fishermen and their families, along with the processors and fishing communities that rely on crab revenues. “We could kind of see a closure was coming, we just didn’t quite know when,” she said. >click to read< 08:36
Bering Sea red king crab in high demand
Gabriel Prout, owner of Alibi Seafoods and part-owner of the F/V Silver Spray, brought 175 king crab totaling 1,000 pounds to the docks last week, which he and his crew had caught in the Bering Sea. After the F/V Silver Spray delivered their 28,000-pound quota of crab to a seafood processor, they were free to deliver the extra unblocked quota to whomever they wanted. Cars lined up for the next six hours until the crab sold out. Prout, who owns and operates the Silver Spray with his family and a friend, brought back triple the amount of crab as last year to sell at the docks. >click to read< 09:43
Red King Crab Quota Down 12% As Stock Trends ‘Toward Fishery Closure Thresholds’
Commercial fishing opens Tuesday, Oct. 15 for Bristol Bay red king crab. This season, the declining population has forced managers to set the total allowable catch (TAC) at 3.8 million pounds. That number is 12 percent lower than last year, as well as the lowest since the fishery was rationalized in 2005. Even if fishermen catch all of the TAC, it’ll be the smallest harvest since 1982. “This is not good news,” said biologist Ben Daly of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “We’re trending toward fishery closure thresholds.” >click to read< 15:11
New tech could unveil the secret life of Bristol Bay red king crab
Fishery researchers in Alaska are using cutting-edge technology to track migratory patterns of one of Alaska’s tastiest catches — the red king crab.
Biologists tagged 150 mature male crab in Dutch Harbor in June. The tags transmit acoustic readings back to an unmanned saildrone equipped with an accoustic receiver. This allows researchers to track movement across the ocean floor and monitor changes in water temperature. >click to read< 11:53
Bristol Bay red king crab quota caught
The Bristol Bay red king crab season finished up last week when the entire allowable catch was harvested. “The Bristol Bay Red King Crab fishery went fairly well,” Miranda Westphal said. Westphal is the area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Dutch Harbor. “A little slower than we would like to have seen, but they wrapped up with a total catch of 6.59 million pounds. So they caught all of the catch that was available for the season.” click here to read the story 17:00
Red king crab fishery off to a slow start
The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is off to a slow start, compared to last year, according to Miranda Westphal, shellfish biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska. The season opened Oct. 15, and on Monday, just over a week into the fishery, only 1.5 million pounds had been landed. In the same time period last year, the boats had hauled in 6 million pounds. The fishery’s performance, though, is not unexpected, and is in line with what biologists learned during pre-season surveys. She said 52 boats were fishing on,,, click here to read the story 20:29
Commercial fishing for Southeast red king crab to open this fall after six years
Southeast Alaska will open to commercial fishing for red king crab this fall for the first time in six years. The crab population has seen a steady increase, according to state surveys. But whether the opening set for November 1 will be lucrative is still to be seen. Joe Stratman, who is Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s lead crab biologist for Southeast, said the red crab population has been on the rise since 2013. “Basically, in the last four or five years we’ve seen improvement in legal, mature biomass estimates in Southeast,” Stratman said. click here to read the story 15:30
Crabbers receiving record prices for low catch
The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds Alaska crabbers are hauling back pots from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, and reduced catches are resulting in record prices for their efforts. The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds so far of its nearly 40,000 pound winter quota for more than 50 local fishermen. The crab, which are taken through the ice near Nome, are paying out at a record $7.75 a pound. A summer opener will produce a combined catch of nearly half a million pounds for the region. Red king crab from Bristol Bay also yielded the highest price ever for fishermen, averaging $10.89 per pound. That catch quota of 8 million pounds was down 15 percent from the previous season. The Bering Sea snow crab fleet has taken 80 percent of its 19 million pound quota, down by nearly half from last year. That’s pushed market prices through the roof, topping $8.30 a pound at wholesale in both the U.S. and Japan, compared to over $5.50 per pound a year ago. continue reading the article here 13:56
Bristol Bay Red King Crab Fishery Starts Strong Despite Low Stock Assessment
The red king crab fishery is off to a booming start in Bristol Bay, despite predictions of a down season. The fleet has caught two-thirds of its quota in just a dozen days, and managers say fishermen are unloading big, beautiful crab at the dock. Gordon Christiansen is a commercial fisherman with more than 40 years of experience in Bering Sea. This season, he said the crab were especially voracious eaters, quick to fill the pots dropped by his crew on the F/V Aleutian Mariner. “From the time we set pots in the water, we were done in 60 hours,” said Christiansen. “It was amazing, tremendous fishing. We’d like to go out again and do it again tomorrow.” Having already harvested their 120,000-pound allocation, his seven-vessel fleet is finished for the season. The average crab from their haul weighed just over seven pounds — a half-pound larger than normal, according to Christiansen. Read the story here 09:07
Lost crab pots still catching king crab in Kodiak Island bay
Derelict crab pots lost on the bottom of a Kodiak Island bay are capturing significant numbers of its king crab, according to scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Abandoned pots, the traps used by fishermen to catch crab, could be killing 16 to 37 percent of the red king crab with shells longer than 40 millimeters in Womens Bay, they concluded in a study. Pots likely were lost when lines were cut by boat propellers, commercial barge towing bridals or ice, the researchers concluded. They also could be lost if floats tied to the pots sank. Read the rest here 20:51
Booming Season Ahead for Bering Sea Crab Fisheries
Total allowable catches set for Bering Sea tanner crab, red king crab and St. Matthew Island blue king crab for the season opening Oct. 15 are bound to keep harvesters real busy. The tanner crab quota for the Eastern Bering Sea is 8,480,000 pounds, with 7,632,000 pounds allocated to holders of individual fishing quota and 848,000 pounds for community development quota groups,, Read the rest here 19:06
Data show stocks on the rise in Bering Sea
Alaska’s pollock numbers may be at the highest level since 1982. Alaska’s conservative management combined with the grace of Mother Nature are swelling the abundance of two of the state’s largest and most important fisheries. Bering Sea crab scientists and stakeholders met last week to discuss the outlook,,, Read more here 14:46
Golden king crab stocks around Aleutians thriving
Amidst the salmon fisheries starting up all across the state, several Alaska crab seasons also get underway each summer. In mid-June, the summer Dungeness crab fishery opens in the Panhandle, as does red king crab at Norton Sound. Those are followed in August by golden kings along the far flung Aleutian Islands, which might soon take the title as Alaska’s largest king crab fishery. continued @ SitNews
