Shellfish report: first published in 1968 National Fisherman Yearbook.
For the first time since the birth of the industry, Alaska King crab landings declined in 1967 to 135 million pounds, down 24 million pounds from the 1966 landings. The hardest hit area was Kodiak, where landings decreased by 26% in the course of the year, a situation which caused a gloomy atmosphere to pervade this center of the King crab industry.
King crab has been the glamour industry of the fishing business for the past several years. Its growth rate has averaged from 10 to 25% per year for the last ten years or so, but it was entirely logical that such growth could not continue.
In contrast, Alaska's Dungeness crab landings increased sharply from 1966 to 11.5 million pounds, up from a mere 5.1 million pounds in 1966. Alaska Dungeness crabs are a fine, large product, and in the past, their qualities have been overshadowed by the booming King crab industry.
In addition, late in 1967 initial and exploratory work was done in the scallop industry with generally good results. The first load of scallops in the shell were landed in December, 7,588 pounds. Another sleeping industry which may bolster the economy of Alaska is the Tanner crab fishery. A total of 110, 886 pounds of Tanner crab was landed in 1967, marking what are believed to be the first commercial landings of the species.
The main drawback to the Tanner crab fishery up to this point has been the difficulty in removing the meat from the shell. Experience gained in the King crab industry, plus the wealth of skilled processing line workers trained in the King crab industry, may help to overcome this difficulty.
