Unalaska, AK – The Crab Plan team is meeting in Seattle this week to discuss recommended over fishing levels, or OFLs, for crab stocks. The team decided not to recommend opening the St. Matthew's blue king crab fishery this year because the recommended OFL is less than the required TAC of 2.8 million pounds.

The recommended OFL for Bristol Bay red king crab, including the bycatch in the non-target fisheries, is 24.2 million pounds a similar number to last season.

The recommendation for opilio crab is similar to last season as well 77.3 million pounds. Alaska Fish & Game biologist Forrest Bowers said some people expected it to rise this year.

"The stock assessment model for snow crab last year was predicting that abundance was going to increase and we'd have a higher OFL," he said. "But after the results of the summer survey came in, the survey results did not support an increase in abundance so the model estimates from last year were revised to reflect that."

This is the first year the crab plan team has recommended new OFLs. Previous seasons used the numbers that were fixed in the management plan. The new process revises the OFLs annually. Bowers says the new process will result in better management practices and healthier stocks.

"It's a more fluid process that can take into account year to year variations in abundance due to environmental conditions," said Bowers. "It's a new process so there are some growing pains but we're working through them. I think as time goes on both industry and plan team members will become more familiar with the process and it will become more streamlined."