Bering Sea snow crab fishing was just getting underway, and the first deliveries were expected later this week, according to Ethan Nichols of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor when the snow crab quota was cut back again this year by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. There is a reduced Bering Sea Tanner crab season, thanks to new rules allowing fishing when fewer female crustaceans are present. And small boats in the Unalaska Island area have a Tanner fishery for the first time in two years.
The Bering Sea opilio snow crab fishery was cut by 12 percent, with a quota of 18.9 million pounds, down from 21.6 million in the previous season.
The snow crab fishery has been in continuing decline for the past seven years, since 2007, said shellfish biologist Miranda Westphal, of ADF&G in Unalaska. Two years ago, during the 2015-16 season, it was 40.6 million pounds.
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