The Bering Sea snow crab season is off and running, with a jump start in December. And crab prices are at record highs in Japan, thanks to a new treaty between Japan and Russia against illegal Russian crabbing, something fishermen would also like to see between the United States and Russia.
"This is the second year in a row there's been a concerted effort in December," said biologist Heather Fitch of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska.
As of Jan. 9, fishermen had harvested 10 million pounds of snow crab, from a 67.95 million pound quota, according to Fitch, who said 42 vessels had participated so far, and more are expected including boats presently fishing for Tanner crab or Pacific cod with the same pots used for crab fishing. She expects that total participation will rise to about 70 vessels chasing snow crab.
In past years, crabbers waited until January, to avoid the sea ice that forms in the northern regions of the fishery north of the Pribilof Islands, and especially later in the season in February and March.
So far so good on ice, Fitch said.
"Ice is not a problem at this point. It's pretty far up there," Fitch said.
"Most of the fleet is geared up and going," said Jake Jacobson, of the Intercooperative Exchange, representing crab boats. About 10 percent of the quota was landed in December, he said.
In 2012, a notoriously ice-infested year in the Bering Sea snow crab fishery, the season was extended to allow fishermen to get quota that had been obstructed by ice-covered fishing grounds. Ice can cause fishermen to lose crab gear, when ice rips buoys away from the crab pots soaking on the ocean bottom.
But there is one way in which ice helps crab fishermen — by concentrating the crustaceans and making them easier to catch since they tend to migrate ahead of the advancing ice pack, according to Jacobson.
"When the ice comes down, the crab schools up," Jacobson said. "Crab fishing 101. It's one of the benefits of having the ice come down," he added.
Meanwhile, on the international front, a new treaty between Japan and Russia took effect Dec. 10, greatly reducing the supply of crab into Japan, a major crab-consuming nation, according to Mark Gleason of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.
"So far, so good on that treaty," which took effect following several years of negotiations, according to Gleason.
But the treaty with Japan doesn't necessarily mean the Russians have stopped illegally harvesting crab, Gleason said. More likely, it's a continuing enterprise, with the contraband being delivered to other Asian countries, like Korea.
And once it's delivered to Korea or China, it finds its way into the United States, fishermen believe. The present crab shortage in Japan indicates that most of the crabs Russians delivered in the past were illegal.
In other Bering Sea crab fisheries, Fitch said most of the Tanner crab in the eastern district has been harvested, with 7 million pounds landed out of a quota of 8.8 million. The western Tanner fishery is just getting started, with 750,000 pounds of a 6.6 million pound quota harvested.
The St. Matthews blue king crab fishery closes on Feb. 1, with less than half the quota caught by four vessels, landing 308,000 pounds from a 655,000 pound quota, Fitch said. Fishing catch rates plummeted following a big storm, for unknown reasons, although it's nothing new, since crabs have pulled disappearing acts in previous years, she noted.
In the Aleutian Islands golden, or brown, king crab fishery, the eastern section is complete, but efforts continue in the west by just two boats and is expected to keep going for about another few months, Fitch said.