With snow crab and red king crab stocks still ailing, state officials are due to decide soon whether harvests will be allowed in the coming year
Clusters of snow crab legs are displayed on Jan. 13, 2023, at the seafood counter at an Anchorage grocery store. The product was identified as previously frozen. The 2022-23 Bering Sea snow crab harvest was canceled because of low stocks. This year's surveys show continued declines, putting harvest prospects in doubt.
“The big picture for Bristol Bay red king crab is we continue to see poor recruitment year after year after year for more than a decade now. And without young crab coming into the stock, both males and females are at a historically low point, and we’re going to expect that will continue until we do see a substantial recruitment event,” he said.
“So caution is warranted but must be balanced against the viability of the industry,” he said by email. While bottom-water temperatures in the red king crab habitat were normal this past year, with the usual pocket of cold lingering, there has been a gradual acidification of that water over the past two decades, he said. If that continues, it will become difficult for crabs to maintain their shells, he said.
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