crab – Fishermens News

Tail End of Big Crab Cohort Prompts Lower GHL for Kodiak Tanner Crab Fishery

20Nov

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Tail End of Big Crab Cohort Prompts Lower GHL for Kodiak Tanner Crab Fishery

Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists have set a guideline harvest of 560,000 Tanner crab for the 2025 season, down significantly from 2024. Based on 2024 Kodiak District survey results, the Eastside and Southeast sections exceeded regulatory thresholds necessary for a 2025 commercial Tanner crab season, agency officials said. The Kodiak District commercial Tanner crab season is scheduled to open at noon on Jan.15, unless delayed by inclement weather. Since the guideline harvest level is less than 5,000,000 pounds, the regulatory pot limit is 20 pots per vessel. The Chignik District is to remain closed for the 2025 season. ADF&G said that abundance must be sufficient to provide for a minimum GHL of 200,000 pounds before a commercial Tanner crab fishery may occur. ...

Bristol Bay Red King, Tanner, Snow Crab TACs Set For 2024-25

9Oct

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Bristol Bay Red King, Tanner, Snow Crab TACs Set For 2024-25

Commercial fisheries for Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea tanner crab opened with increased quotas on Oct. 15, and the Bering Sea snow crab season reopened with a total allowable catch of 4.7 million pounds. "After these tough closure years, we're happy to see some of our vessels heading back to the crab grounds and communities participating in these fisheries again,” Jamie Goen, the executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, and a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, said. “We’re feeling cautiously optimistic that the crab stock is starting to recover. But our work isn't done,” Goen said. “It's critical that we keep working for habitat protections, stock rebuilding and the overall tools that the crab resource and crab industry need to build resi...

Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Annual Crab Industry Meeting Scheduled for Oct. 11

9Oct

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Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Annual Crab Industry Meeting Scheduled for Oct. 11

Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials have scheduled the annual meeting with the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands crab industry. It is to be held Oct. 11 in Dutch Harbor. The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Alaska time (10 a.m. Pacific time). Topics to be reviewed include 2024-25 total allowable catch calculations for Bristol Bay red king crab, Bering Sea Tanner crab and Eastern Bering Sea snow crab. Participants can join via Zoom or in person with the ADF&G staff at the Unalaska Public Library Community Room or on the second floor of the Kodiak ADF&G building. The Zoom meeting link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8431240090?pwd=9g16kB8eDlcbS1oMKhuHMxauy4bJOY.1 The meeting ID is 843 1240 0590 and the passcode is 216588. ...

Preseason Registration Opens for Four Commercial Crab Fisheries

14Aug

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Preseason Registration Opens for Four Commercial Crab Fisheries

Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials on Aug. 9 began preseason vessel registration for 2024-2025 commercial crab fisheries in the Bering Sea in order to determine the number of observers needed to meet fishery coverage goals if these seasons open. Total allowable catches are to be announced by subsequent Fish & Game advisory announcements if its determined that harvests will be allowed for the Bristol Bay red king crab, Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crab, Western Bering Sea Tanner crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries, ADF&G officials said. Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Executive Director Jamie Goen said she’s cautiously optimistic that there will be a commercial king crab fishing season this year. The king crab fisheries were closed in 2021 and 2022 and reopened for 2...

Tanner Crab Commercial Fishery Opens for Kodiak, South Alaska Peninsula

17Jan

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Tanner Crab Commercial Fishery Opens for Kodiak, South Alaska Peninsula

Commercial fishing for Tanner crab at Kodiak and Alaska’s South Peninsula opened Monday, Jan. 15, after the National Weather Service determined there was no prospect of gale warnings. A total of 135 vessels are registered for the Kodiak area fishery, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, including 110 on the Eastside, where the allowable catch was 2.44 million pounds. Another 20 vessel were registered to harvest the 465,000 allowable catch in the southeast sectors and five more for the 100,000 pound allocation in the southwest sector. For Alaska’s South Peninsula, 20 vessels each were registered for the western and eastern sectors. The allowable harvest for both western and eastern sectors of the South Peninsula is 225,000 pounds. The fishery was anticipat...

Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Begins Feb. 1 North of Cape Falcon, Ore.

10Jan

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Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Begins Feb. 1 North of Cape Falcon, Ore.

Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has announced the Feb. 1 opener of a commercial Dungeness crab fishing period from Cape Falcon to Klipsan Beach, Wash. Officials said a fourth round of pre-season testing showed that male crabs in this area were not quite ready for a January opening. The additional time is expected to allow crab to continue to fill with meat before harvest, they said. Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season, targeted to open Dec. 1, can be delayed or partially opened so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs aren’t wasted. This year’s season was partially opened (from Cape Foulweather to the California border) on Dec. 16, after a delay due to low meat yield in areas north of Cape Foulweather. Commercial crabbing began Dec. 31 from...

CDFW Delays Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Season Opener

1Nov

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CDFW Delays Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Season Opener

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has said that it expects an assessment by Nov. 17 re-evaluating risks to humpback whales in the area of a Dungeness crab fishery before setting a new date for the fishery opener, which was previously set for Nov. 15. For now, the opening date of the Dungeness crab fishery south of the Sonoma-Mendocino County line remains uncertain. According to CDFW, the risk assessment is expected to inform the potential for a statewide commercial fishery opener on Dec. 1 and the potential as well to modify the recreational trap restriction. The commercial Dungeness crab fishery south of the Sonoma-Mendocino County line had been scheduled to open Nov. 15 in fishing Zones 3, 4, 5, and 6. CDFW also announced a temporary crab trap restriction in the re...

1Feb

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Crab Scientists Plan More Direct Research, Tagging This Year

Two research scientists with extensive backgrounds in crab fisheries said last week that they’re bent on unlocking new information in the coming months to help better track the future for Alaska king crab and snow crab fisheries currently foundering in a multi-million-dollar collapse. Research plans for 2023 call for a range of activities from satellite tagging at density centers to pot lifts and more collaboration with the crab industry, said Scott Goodman, executive director of the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation (BSFRF), and president of Natural Resources Consultants in Seattle. The volatile Bering Sea crab fisheries, with a history of highs and lows, are currently for the most part in collapse. They peaked with a 130-million-pound red king crab harvest in 1980, then close...

Kodiak Stand-Down Continues Over Tanner Crab Price Offer

25Jan

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Kodiak Stand-Down Continues Over Tanner Crab Price Offer

A harvester stand-down continues in Kodiak, Alaska over the price offered by processors there for the Tanner crab season that opened Jan. 15. Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative (KCAC) spokesman Kevin Abena, skipper of the f/v Big Blue, said the Cooperative did not meet on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 22, with its permit holder members. Abena said 130 permit holders whom KCAC represents don’t feel they should go fishing at the $2.50 a pound offer from Kodiak processors. Last year, Kodiak processors paid up to $8.40 a pound for the Tanners. This year’s quota for the Kodiak area Tanner crag fishery is 5.8 million pounds. Abena said that KCAC went back to Kodiak processors on Saturday, Jan. 21, with two options: a base price of $3.25 a pound plus matching a final settlement on the price o...

Low Price Prompts Kodiak District Crabbers to Stand Down from Tanner Crab Fishery

18Jan

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Low Price Prompts Kodiak District Crabbers to Stand Down from Tanner Crab Fishery

Harvesters standing down from Tanner crab fisheries because of a $2.50 a pound offer from Kodiak processors say the earliest they could go fishing would be noon on Sunday, Jan. 22, if they get a reasonable price offer. Kevin Abena, secretary and treasurer of the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative, said that as of Monday, Jan. 16, Alaska Pacific Seafoods and OBI Seafoods, the latter representing Ocean Beauty and Icicle, had upped their offer from $2.50 a pound to $3 a pound. Members of the cooperative are holding out for a higher price. Last year, Tanner crab harvesters were paid $8.30 a pound in Kodiak in the wake of the 2021 fishery, which was cancelled. Fishermen at King Cove and Sand Point were continuing negotiations with Peter Pan Seafoods. Abena said it’s the right decision for t...