Southeast Alaska’s first competitive commercial red king crab fishery in eight years opens on Saturday.
Ten different areas will be open for the fishery. They’ll be managed individually based on how much crab are available in each spot.
State regulations require at least 200,000 pounds of harvestable crab to be available for a commercial opener in the region. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) announced earlier this fall that over 211,000 pounds of crab are available this season.
Red king crab in Southeast Alaska is a low-volume, high-value commercial fishery with just 59 permit holders. Commercial openings have been few and far between, with just one in over a decade. The approaching fishery marks a highly-anticipated comeback.
“I know guys are getting pretty excited about it,” said Adam Messmer, a regional shellfish biologist with ADFG. “Phone calls are definitely getting more frequent. You know, when we first announced it was kind of a firestorm.”
The state conducts red king crab stock surveys in several different bays in the region, described by Messmer as “historical hot spots.”
He said three of the seven state-surveyed areas will be open for the upcoming fishery, and show lots of promise.
“Seymour was … very good. Juneau has been bouncing back over the years … And Gambier is on its way, has lots of young crab coming up for the future,” Messmer said.
The other four survey areas in Southeast will remain closed to crabbing for red kings.
Gambier Bay and the Juneau area will be open for just 24 hours. Fishermen will have from 10:00 a.m. Nov. 1 until 10:00 a.m. the next day to catch their crab. There’s 9,948 pounds of crab available in Gambier Bay and 20,446 pounds of crab available in the Juneau area.
The other eight crabbing areas will be open until their allowed harvest is hauled.
The highest amount of available crab is in the Seymour Canal (44,705 pounds), Eastern Frederick Sound (39,890 pounds), and North Stephens Passage (39,920) areas. Messmer said the state set higher amounts in those areas to reflect catch history and spread out the harvest.
The Lynn Canal area has 13,925 pounds of crab available for harvesting. The Icy Strait/Outer Coast area has 14,938 pounds of crab available. Lower Chatham Strait has 16,553 pounds of crab; and the Northern Chatham Strait area has 6,133 pounds available. The Southern Area has about 5,115 pounds of crab available to harvest.
Fishermen will be required to call-in to managers daily so they can keep tabs on the fishery and close areas when their available stock gets caught.
Permit holders are required to tell managers which area they plan to start in before the fishery opens. The first mandatory call-in is Friday, Oct. 31.
This story was first published at http://www.kfsk.org and is reprinted here with permission.
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