Petersburg Pilot -

The 2024 golden king crab fishery for the East Central management area -which includes the waters around Petersburg- closed after only four days when area fishermen caught more crab than the season's total guideline harvest level set for all of Southeast.

Last year, fishermen reportedly observed a golden king crab population boom in parts of Southeast, but the ability to harvest crab was constrained by harvest levels based on earlier years when the population was very low.

Meetings in 2023 between the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) and industry resulted in ADFG significantly increas...