How Long is King Crab Season in Alaska?

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

April Rebert holds a young red king crab while scuba diving.

King crab are an Alaska icon. They are delicious as well, and insuring they are available for harvest requires careful management. Biologists who are in charge of king crab in the waters off of Southeast Alaska also keep an eye on the big spiny crabs and the Alaskans who catch them.

The assistant management biologist for Southeast Alaska and shellfish research biologist Adam Messmer said, “People might have a pot full of crabs and think that they’re everywhere, but it takes a long time to grow one of those things.” Messmer lives in Douglas. “When they become legal, they are seven to nine years old, which is the same age as a legal Dall sheep.” ”.

King crab are a long-lived species, Messmer said. Most crustaceans molt regularly as they age and grow, which helps biologists determine the age of an animal. King crabs can skip molting after a certain size, and some may only do it every two years. This makes it harder to tell how old the crab is.

Messmer said, “Because they don’t molt as often, older crabs have barnacles and other types of fouling growth on their shells.” He said that giant, older crabs from Japan that are 20 to 24 years old have been dated by researchers. These older male king crabs are important. “In terms of reproduction, they are productive and can mate with a lot of female crabs. They’re more productive than smaller males, so it’s good to keep some of those big crabs around.” ”.

Messmer said the largest red king crab on record is a 24-pound crab with a six-foot leg span.

An adult king crab is seven inches across the shell, from spine to spine, and seven and a half to eight pounds heavy. In about four years, a Dungeness crab will be six and a half inches across, which is the legal size. It will weigh about two and a half pounds. In both cases, only male crab may be taken.

Southeast Alaska waters are home to three king crab species: red, blue and golden king crab. Red king crab are the species most often seen and eaten. Red and blue king crab are managed together, golden king crab are managed separately. It’s not often that you see blue king crab in the Juneau area. Golden king crab are usually much deeper, said biologist April Rebert. Rebert is also based in Douglas and is a research diver as well as a king crab manager.

Biologists conduct annual surveys to determine if there are enough crab for a fishery. Starting in late June and going for nine days, they set and take down hundreds of king crab pots in certain places. The state research vessel Medeia serves as the crab boat.

During the annual Southeast survey on the R/V Medeia, red king crab are taken from the pot to the measuring station.

“We call it the Friendliest catch; they all go back in the water,” Messmer said.

Biologists draw on more than 30 years of data regarding pot placement and catch. There are five levels of abundance at the bottom, and Messmer said that places with better habitat get more pots. “The exact pot locations are randomly generated. Depending on the size of the bay, we have different numbers of pots. In the Juneau area, 11-A, not counting Barlow Cove, we set 196 pots. ”.

Once the pot is brought to the dock, biologists sort the crabs by size and age and mark them as either pre-recruit, recruit, or post-recruit. Messmer said a crab should be able to reproduce once or twice before it becomes legal size. “We can look at trends, so if next year there are more pre-recruits, or crabs that will be coming into the fishery, that’s good.” It’s better to be safe if there are a lot of legal crab (recruits and post-recruits) and not many pre-recruits. ”.

Biologists determine if there is a harvestable surplus to warrant a fishery – both commercial and personal use. If you want to fish for red king crabs for money in Southeast, you have to catch at least 200,000 pounds. The region-wide possession limit for the personal use fishery is determined after biologists analyze the survey data. Some areas may be closed when there aren’t many people using them. For 2019, Peril Strait, Gambier Bay, and Lynn Sisters are closed.

“By law, 60% of the harvestable surplus in the Juneau area goes to personal use and 40% goes to commercial use. This is part of an allocation plan.” ” Rebert said.

“The 40% for commercial stays in the water if the whole region doesn’t add up,” Messmer said. That assessment, which applies to 11-A, is usually determined and announced by mid-September.

The waters of Southeast Alaska are divided into 16 districts. The waters of the Juneau area, known as Section 11-A, are managed differently from the rest of Southeast. The area has seen ups and downs in the past; and it is designated as a non-subsistence area. Not as long of a season as in other parts of Southeast Alaska, and the winter is also short. Some years there is no fishery, so no open season. For the rest of Southeast, the season encompasses most of the year, winter and summer.

King crab fishing for both personal use and business was banned in the Juneau area from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, the personal use fishery was open for five days during the summer. In 2018, only personal use was open for five days during the summer. Rebert said that in 2018, people in the Juneau area caught about 10,072 pounds of red king crab for their own use, which is about 1,500 king crab.

Tessa Bergmann measures red king crab (left) while Katie Palof tags them and April Rebert records data (right). The live crab are then released back into the ocean.

In the Juneau area, the 2019 opening in early August was three-and-a-half days. The allocation was 12,583 pounds, or 1,566 crabs. In the Juneau area, the summer seasonal limit was two crab in possession, and only two per household.

Outside of 11-A, in places like Petersburg, the current daily catch limit is three king crabs, broken down into one red or blue and two golden or all three golden. There is no current seasonal limit. Since the season is longer, there is no need to have a separate winter season. You can catch red and blue king crab from July 1 to March 31, and golden king crab from July 1 to June 15, unless an emergency order closes or limits the season.

Before 1970 there was no closed season for red or blue king crab in Southeast Alaska. As demand for the resource grew, managers set seasons, limits on gear (like how many pots could be on each boat), bag limits, and requirements for reporting. Personal use king crabbers need a sport fishing license and a personal use permit. One permit is issued per household.

The permit asks people to report how many king crab were caught, what species they were, what gear was used, where the crab were caught, and how many times the pots were pulled.

Dungeness are managed differently. The information is based on the commercial fishing effort. Tessa Bergmann, a fisheries biologist from Petersburg, said that people who want to go fishing only need a sport fishing license and don’t need to get a permit or report their catch. They don’t have a closed season, and in most of Southeast, you can only catch 20 male crabs per day. “The bag limit is pretty phenomenal for residents,” she said.

In the Juneau area, there are two separate king crab fisheries, summer and winter. Rebert said that one reason the Board of Fish split them up was to give crab to dive fishermen who usually catch them in the winter, when the crab move into shallower water. Ten percent of the total harvestable surplus is allocated to the winter fishery.

As a personal user, Rebert fished for king crab during the winter dive fishery last winter. He is a diver. “I got my limit of three,” she said. “We did one of the dives at night, and there were tons of them right there in 20 feet of water.” It was pretty cool. We go in pairs, with a flashlight in one hand and a bag in the other. ”.

Biometrician Katie Palof measures (left) while biologist April Rebert tags (right) reg king crab during a survey. The live crab are then released back into the ocean.

She also has a crab stick or crab gauge with her, which is a slotted measuring tool with a seven-inch gap. She measures the crab while it is underwater. And the crabbing is not always that easy – she said it’s hit-or-miss when you dive. “They can be right there, or you have to swim to find them. Based on how deep you are and how much air you have, that could be 30 to 40 minutes per dive. ”.

King crab are easy to catch underwater, relative to Dungeness.

“Dungeness, that’s a chase,” she said. “They are jukey and fast. You see a big one and you are swimming as fast as you can. You can outswim them, but it takes a lot of energy. I like partner-chasing Dungeness. King crab, you just pick them up. They’re not fast – they’ll run a little bit, but they seem to get tired. ”.

As might be expected for a winter fishery, weather is a big influence on effort.

“This year the effort was high because the weather was good,” Rebert said. “It was snowing, but the water was calm. In Juneau, Auke Rec and Auke Bay were pretty calm. The allocation went a lot faster than we anticipated and the harvest was good. We allocated 1,268 crab and caught 1,13. ”.

Wrapping Up King Crab Season | Deadliest Catch | Discovery

FAQ

How long is a typical king crab season?

Why is king crab season so short?

How long do Alaska crab fishermen go out for?

Why did they shut down king crab season?

When is king crab season in Alaska?

The season is much longer, so there is no need to open a special winter season: red and blue king crab may be taken from July 1 through March 31 and golden king crab may be taken from July 1 through June 15, unless closed or reduced by Emergency Order. Before 1970 there was no closed season for red or blue king crab in Southeast Alaska.

When is king crab fishing?

Red and blue king crab tend to go from shallow water to deep water each year. Though the season will depend on the fishing guidelines or quota established for the year, king crab fishing takes place during the winter months of October through January.

What is king crab season?

Alaska is home to the world’s most sought-after king crab s. For locals and visitors alike, king crab season is something of an event. It’s all about the hunt for the freshest and tastiest crustaceans.

When are king crabs legal?

Specific size requirements must be met; only certain types of king crab are legal at different times of the year and only males can be kept. The most popular crab-fishing time occurs between October and January. The allocated time for a season continued to shrink – at one point a red crab season was only four days long.