Despite some warmer weather and significant ice retreat, the Bering Sea snow crab fleet is still struggling. Last week, crabbers made no deliveries, a first in what’s already been an unusually slow season.

The Unalaska Fish and Game office says boats were on the grounds, but they weren’t catching much. Fishermen pulled up an average of only 100 crab per pot last week, about half the season norm.

Many boats are also still dealing with ice, according to National Weather Service ice forecaster Kathleen Cole. She says captains have been calling over the last week to report ice floes in expected places. Cole adds that although the ice edge has temporarily retreated north of St. Paul Island, it could swing south again, covering up the prime fishing grounds.

The fleet still needs to harvest 20 million pounds of crab - almost a quarter of the quota - before the extended season closes on June 15.

In the meantime, processors are gearing up for the late-season influx of crab. May is normally a slow month for the plants, between fisheries, but not this year.

The Trident plant in St. Paul took several deliveries Monday morning and is expecting to be near peak production capacity by later this week. The plant has been idling for most of the season, but will be bringing on extra workers to handle the increased volume. Running at capacity, the plant can process upwards of 400,000 pounds of crab per day.

In Unalaska, the processing plants are also getting ready for large crab deliveries at the same time as they’re gearing up for the start of pollock B season on June 10. The seasons will only overlap for a few days, but those could be hectic days if the bulk of the crab deliveries happen during that time.

This year’s total allowable harvest is 88.9 million pounds.