Unalaska, AK – After a few days of Bristol Bay red king crab price negotiations, the Bering Sea crab fleet has been given the green light to go fishing as of this afternoon.

Harvesting co-op negotiators reached price agreements with the last of the major processors earlier today. Only negotiations with one small processor, SnoPak, are still unsettled.

Not all the prices have been disclosed yet, but in most cases the fishermen will be receiving $4.20 a pound for A shares and $4.34 to $4.50 for B and C shares.

Greg White, a negotiator for the Inter-Cooperative Exchange, which represents most of the Bering Sea crab fleet, said those numbers were a little disappointing in light of the $4.35 a pound the fishermen were hoping to get.

"I think we were hoping to do a little bit better on the A shares," he said. "There were some settlement prices with Japan that I think put a little bit of a lid on the market."

Although this year's red king crab quota is a third larger than last year's, there will be fewer boats fishing for it. Not everyone has completed their final registration yet, but Alaska Department of Fish & Game Biologist Forrest Bowers said he doubts more than 70 crab boats will be out this year. That's considerably down from the 89 boats that fished last year.