Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Quota Holds Steady for Red King Crab, Down for Snow Crab


The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is holding about steady on its quota for Bristol Bay red king crab for the season beginning Oct. 15, while the Bering Sea snow crab quota has dropped.

The red king crab allowable harvest is set at 7.85 million pounds, up just slightly over last year’s quota of 7.834 million pounds.

That includes 7,067,700 pounds of individual fishing quota and 785,300 pounds of community development quota.

In the Bering Sea snow crab fishery, however, the quota this year is 66.35 million pounds, down from 88.894 million pounds a year ago. Of that total allowable catch, 59,715,000 pounds goes to individual fishing quota and 6,635,000 pounds to community development quota.

The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery runs through Jan 15. The snow crab fishery will be open through May 15 in the eastern subdistrict and through May 31 in the western subdistrict.

Also announced was a St. Matthew Island blue king crab fishery quota of 1,630,000 pounds – down from 2,359,000 pounds a year ago – including 1,467,000 pounds of individual fishing quota and 163,000 pounds of community development quota.

The St. Matthew Island blue king crab fishery opens Oct. 15 and runs through Feb. 1.

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