Unalaska, AK – Crab TACs for 09/10 09.30 ah/kucb

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game released the crab TACs for the winter fisheries today and most of them will go down.

The Bering Sea snow crab fishery total allowable catch is set at 48 million pounds, 10.5 million pounds less than last year. The snow crab fishery was considered overfished in 1999 and was not rebuilt according to regulation in the required 10-year time period. A new 5-year rebuilding plan will be put in place to rebuild the stock by 2013. The National Marine Fisheries Service suggested that a TAC of 50.5 million pounds would be low enough to keep the total catch - including incidental bycatch in other fisheries - at a healthy level for the stock. However, ADF&G feels a more precautionary approach is necessary and set the level at 48 million pounds.

The Tanner crab fishery is considered almost overfished and the department is putting stronger limits on the catch. The western Tanner crab fishery will remain closed this year because high bycatch mortality in that area would endanger the stock. The eastern area will remain open with a TAC of 1.35 million pounds. Last year's eastern TAC was more than double that at 2.76 million pounds. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has two years to develop a rebuilding plan for Tanners.

The Bristol Bay Red King crab TACs will also be cut this year by 4.3 million pounds. The TAC is 16 million down from last year's 20.36 million.

Both red and blue king crab fisheries will remain closed in the Pribilof Islands district. The blue king crab population is not considered rebuilt and abundance estimates for mature male red king crabs in the Pribilof District is among the lowest on record since the early 1990s.

On the upside, the St. Matthew Island blue king crab fishery will open this year for the first time since 1999. The stock is now considered rebuilt and the TAC will be 1.167 million pounds. However, ADF&G warns that 75 percent of the male crabs are sublegal so be careful when fishing.

All of the seasons open on Oct. 15.