Snow Crab Officially Recovered, Says NOAA

Tuesday, May 15 2012

The Bering Sea snow crab stock is officially rebuilt.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association announced the stock’s recovery as part of its annual report to Congress on the status of America’s fisheries.

Scientists first determined that snow crab was overfished in 1999, and slashed the harvest levels in response. A little over a decade later, the stock is now above its target population level. Commercial fishing quotas have also gone up as a result. This quota was brought up to almost 90 million pounds this season, nearly double what it was last year. However, fishermen have struggled to take this amount because of persistent ice cover in the Bering Sea this winter.

The report also noted that golden king crab and Gulf of Alaska shallow water flatfish were not overfished, information NOAA had not established previously.



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