Snow crab comeback!

After a two-year closure, the Bering Sea snow crab fishery will reopen at noon Oct. 15 with a modest quota of 4.72 million pounds, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday.

The department also announced a quota of 2.31 million pounds for the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, which likewise will open Oct. 15. That's a slight increase from last season's 2.15 million pounds.

And the Bering Sea bairdi Tanner crab season will open Oct. 15 with a quota of 6.27 million pounds, up from last season's 2.08 million pounds.

Red king crab yes, snow crab no

After a two-year hiatus, the Bristol Bay red king crab crab fishery will reopen Oct. 15 with a modest quota of 2.15 million pounds.

The Bering Sea snow crab fishery will remain closed for the second consecutive season. This year's bottom trawl survey showed snow crab mature female and commercial-size male abundance is at an all-time low, scientists say.

The Bering Sea bairdi Tanner crab fishery will open Oct. 15 with a quota of 2.08 million pounds.

Snow crab fishery to open with modest quota

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today announced a Bering Sea snow crab quota of 5.6 million pounds and a bairdi quota of 1.1 million pounds.

Snow crab cut 12 percent

This season's Bering Sea snow crab quota is 18.96 million pounds, down 12 percent from last season.

The fishery opens at noon Oct. 15, but the industry typically waits until after the first of the year to take snow crab.

Fishery managers also have set a modest quota of 2.5 million pounds for Bering Sea bairdi Tanner crab. The bairdi fishery was closed last season.

Bad news for bairdi

The Bering Sea bairdi Tanner crab fishery will not open this season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced today.

That's a significant blow to the Alaska seafood industry. Last season, the fleet had a catch quota of nearly 20 million pounds of bairdi.

Red king crab TAC up; Tanner crab to reopen

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today announced the total allowable catch (TAC) for a couple of important Bering Sea crab fisheries.

The 2013-14 TAC for Bristol Bay red king crab is 8.6 million pounds, up 9.5 percent from last season.

The TAC for Bering Sea Tanner, or bairdi, crab is 3.1 million pounds. The fishery was closed last season.

The crab fisheries are scheduled to open Oct. 15.

However, the federal government shutdown could delay the start of the general fisheries.

That's because the National Marine Fisheries Service must issue individual fishing and processing quotas. And almost everyone in that agency is on furlough.

Ten percent of the crab TACs are reserved for harvest under the Community Development Quota program. The state issues CDQ permits, which therefore will not be delayed.

Here come the crab quotas

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has begun announcing Bering Sea crab quotas for the upcoming season, and the early news isn't good.

The bairdi Tanner crab fishery will remain closed again this season due to weak stocks. Here's the announcement.

Likewise, the Pribilof District red and blue king crab fisheries will remain closed. Details here.

Presumably, the department soon will announce quotas for the state's two most valuable crab fisheries, Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab.

Council amends Tanner crab bycatch plan

After passing a plan Sunday to reduce Tanner crab bycatch in the groundfish fisheries off Kodiak, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council took up the matter again the following day and made some amendments.

Here's the final motion the council passed.

Council faces three big issues this week

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council meets this week at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, and the agenda is pretty heavy.

Here's a quick rundown:

Observer reform: The council is poised to take final action on a plan to restructure the observer program. Observers, of course, are those young biologists who ride along on commercial fishing boats to collect important data on what's caught, kept and tossed. Depending on what options the council chooses, program restructuring could mean two new classes of boats — halibut boats and groundfish boats under 60 feet long — will have to start carrying an observer part of the time. And vessel owners in most if not all Alaska fleets could face a fee of up to 2 percent of the dockside value of their catches to cover the cost of observers.

Kodiak crab protection: The council also is expected to take final action on restricting some areas off the east coast of Kodiak Island to protect bairdi Tanner crab stocks. The council could ban trawl and pot boats from the areas seasonally or year-round, or require them to carry observers more often to keep fishing there. As steady Deckboss visitors know, the killing or maiming of crab while in pursuit of groundfish is a touchy subject.

Steller sea lion verdict: With much anticipation, I'm sure, council members will hear the final word from the National Marine Fisheries Service on just how restrictive the western Aleutians cod and Atka mackerel fisheries are going to be come next year. As you'll recall, NMFS proposed extensive commercial fishing closures along the chain to protect the endangered Steller sea lion. The council at its August meeting suggested ways to reduce the closures. It'll be fascinating to see if NMFS bends a little. Either way, we could see litigation bust out over this one.

Farewell: A reception is planned for Friday evening to say so long to Denby Lloyd, who is retiring Dec. 1 as Alaska's fish and game commissioner and thus a member of the council.

Here's the agenda with all the times, dates and places for the council meeting and side gatherings.

Bering Sea crab quotas announced

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today announced catch limits for the Bering Sea crab fisheries opening Oct. 15:

Bristol Bay red king crab: 14.8 million pounds, down 7.5 percent from last season.

Bering Sea snow crab: 54.3 million pounds, up 13 percent from last season.

Bering Sea bairdi Tanner crab: Fishery closed due to low mature female biomass. Last season's quota was 1.35 million pounds.

St. Matthew Island blue king crab: 1.6 million pounds, up 37 percent from last season.

Council votes to look at crab bycatch controls

Here's an update on that photographic evidence of appalling bairdi Tanner crab bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council late Thursday voted to analyze options to possibly close important crab waters off Kodiak.

The closures could apply not only to groundfish trawlers, but also to pot boats that incur crab bycatch while pursuing cod.

By the way, it's probably not accurate for readers to conclude the council action was a direct response to seeing those pictures of wasted crab.

In fact, crab as well as salmon bycatch in the Gulf commercial fisheries has been on the council's radar screen for some years now.

Read all about it in this discussion paper prepared for this week's council meeting.