Alaska officials have cancelled the upcoming snow crab season, due to population decline across the Bering Sea.
The fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest will not happen. The winter harvest of smaller snow crab has also been cancelled for the first time.
The causes of the population collapse are being researched but likely include increased predation and stresses from warmer water, which the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believes may have prompted the crabs to shift away from coasts.
“In the Bering Sea, Alaska pollock, snow crab, and Pacific halibut have generally shifted away from the coast since the early 1980s … They have also moved northward by an average of 19 miles,” the federal agency said.
The Alaska closures reflect conservation concerns about both crab species following bleak summer population surveys. The decisions to shut down the harvests came after days of discussions among Alaska state biologists and senior officials, who faced crabbers’ pleas for at least small takes to be allowed.
“These are truly unprecedented and troubling times for Alaska’s iconic crab fisheries and for the hard-working fishermen and communities that depend on them,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, a trade association.
“Second- and third generation crab-fishing families will go out of business due to the lack of meaningful protections by decision-makers to help crab stocks recover.”
The fish and game department (ADF&G) released a statement saying: “Management of Bering Sea snow crab must now focus on conservation and rebuilding given the conditions of the stock.
“With crab industry input, ADF&G will continue to evaluate options for rebuilding, including potential for sustainably fishing during periods of low abundance. This will allow ADF&G to work on issues related to state and federal co-management, observer coverage, discard mortality and fishery viability.”
Bering Sea now crab populations declined after a 2019 warming that scrambled the broader marine ecosystem. Last year’s snow crab harvest of 5.6m lb was the smallest in more than 40 years.
Within the limits of a federal management plan, Alaska determines how many crab are caught each year.
A scientific model of the snow crab population reviewed by the federal North Pacific Fishery Management Council last week indicated there may have been enough this year for a small harvest. But Ben Daly, an Alaska fish and game research coordinator, said the model has struggled to account for the dramatic population decline after the 2019 warming, and state officials were concerned it might not be accurate.
“We have extreme conservation concerns about the population. We have serious doubts about the model,” Daly told the Associated Press.
The fall red king crab harvest was cancelled for a second year running because of the low number of mature female crabs, which are an indicator of the broader health of a stock in long-term decline. The survey needs to find at least 8.4 million mature females to allow a harvest. The 2022 survey, though it showed improvement from 2021, still fell below that level, according to Daly.
Fisheries that accidentally catch Bristol Bay king and snow crab will continue without new restrictions.
The department of fish and game also announced that a small Bering Sea crab harvest of more than 2m lb of tanner crab would open on Saturday.
