The following season, that fishery shrank to about a tenth of the previous season - 5.5 million pounds (2.5 million kilograms) were harvested at a value of just over $24 million. In 2020, snow crab fishers caught about 45 million pounds (20.4 million kilograms) of snow crab worth almost $106 million, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Scientists think that population decline was a result of two years of low sea ice cover and abnormally warm ocean temperatures due to climate change may have altered the ecosystem in a way that snow crab couldn’t survive. The decisions come after a first-ever closure for the snow crab fishery last year and a second-straight year of closure for the red king crab fishery in the Bering Sea after an annual survey in 2021 found all-time lows in the crab populations. The total allowable catch for Tanner crab in the western Bering Sea was set at 1.3 million pounds (589,700 kilograms), while the eastern Bering Sea fishery was capped at 760,000 pounds (344,700 kilograms). The Tanner crab fishery will open as normal after the number of adult mature male Tanner crabs exceeded the threshold, one species that has signs of optimism in the coming years for fisheries managers. State fishery officials also decided to close the snow crab season for a second year, siding on conservation of the stock. While the red king crab have been off limits for two years, the snow crab season was also canceled last year. The fishery saw nearly 130 million pounds (59 million kilograms) caught in 1980 before declining for the next three decades. More than 2.65 million pounds (1.2 million kilograms) were caught in 2020. The estimates of spawning crab and the number of mature female red king crab were above thresholds required to open the fishery in Bristol Bay, according to analysis of surveys by both the state and the National Marine Fisheries Service.įishermen will be allowed to catch 2.1 million pounds (952,500 kilograms) of red king crab for three months beginning Oct. Difficulty in finding crew members and having enough money to maintain boats may limit the number of vessels participating this season, he added. “We're really happy they're opening up the king crab season, it'll bring some much needed relief,” said Gabriel Prout, a third-generation fisher and president of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a nonprofit trade association.īut Prout expects fewer boats to participate in this season's crab fishery. The reopening of the red king crab fishery was welcome news for fishers. “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.

Alaskan red crab