Unalaska, AK – The major king crab fisheries wrapped up in December, after opening on October 15.

The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery achieved 100% completion in December, with 5,400 pounds of the 14.8 million pound quota left unharvested. Sixty-four boats participated, and 223 landings were made over eight weeks. The total ex-vessel value of the fishery was over $90 million, about a $10 million improvement on the previous year. While last year's red king crab quota may have been higher at 16 million pounds, a dockside price of $6.25 per pound was a substantial increase over the 2009 price of $4.98.

The St. Matthew's blue king crab fishery saw substantial gains this year. The fishery had been closed for 10 years, after the stock crashed in the late 1990s. It opened up again last year with mixed results. The total allowable catch for 2009 was set at 1.1 million pounds, but only about 460,000 pounds were retained, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Despite that low catch rate, the total allowable catch was increased to 1.4 million pounds this year. And of that, about 1.1 million pounds -- or 79% of the quota -- was caught by early December. Since the ice pack is expected to close the area off to harvesting by the new year, the St Matthew's blue king crab fishery is unlikely to get much closer to completion.

The Aleutian Islands golden king crab fishery also wrapped up in the Eastern District. The total allowable catch was 2.8 million pounds, and the fishery reached completion with just 31 deliveries made. In the Western District, only an estimated 65% of the 2.5-million-pound quota was harvested. Since there are not three buyers for golden king in the Western district, the actual poundage remains confidential.

The opilio harvest will begin in January.