Unalaska, AK – Fishermen won't be able to take as many red king crab from Bristol Bay this season as they did last year. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released its total allowable catch numbers for the 2006-2007 Bering Sea crab fisheries on Friday, and the quota for red kings is lower than it was in the 2005-2006 season.

ADF&G shellfish biologist Wayne Donaldson says several factors contributed to the agency's decision. Newly legal crabs, known as recruits, are about half a pound smaller than they were the previous season. ADF&G also believes that the 2005 crab stock was lower than initially projected in the agency's models.

The agency also has adjusted its total allowable catch to take into account bycatch mortality last season, which fisheries biologists believe was due to what's called high-grading. High grading is the practice by which legal-sized crabs that may not be up to buyers' quality standards are thrown back, and Donaldson says it's something new the agency has had to factor in since crab rationalization took effect last season.

UniSea's Dutch Harbor plant processes 22 percent of the Bristol Bay red king crab harvest. Operations manager Rocky Caldero called ADF&G's numbers "confusing," but said that UniSea could live with them.

"I wish they were higher," he said. "But we'll take what we can get, as long as we can sustain a healthy fishery."

This years red king total allowable catch is 15.5 million pounds, down about 15 percent from 18.3 million pounds in 2005. In other areas of the Bering Sea fishery, the snow crab TAC was set at about 36.6 million pounds, down from 37.2 million last season. The tanner crab fishery in the eastern region of the Bering Sea is opening for the first time since 1997, with a TAC of 1.9 million pounds, and the western tanner crab fishery will open at about 1 million pounds. Those fisheries all open on October 15. King crab remains closed in the Saint Matthews Island section and Pribilof District due to population concerns.