In a dwindling fishery that could set a record for speed, Kodiak and Alaska Peninsula fishermen will drop pots for a combined total of 770,000 pounds of Tanner crab when the fishery opens on January 15, 2025.
Of that, 560,000 pounds of Tanners can be taken by Kodiak crabbers with 210,000 pounds coming from the Eastern District of the Alaska Peninsula.
In the January 2024 season, a fleet of 135 Kodiak boats and 31 at the Peninsula pulled up a combined 3.48 million pound quota in just two days.
That was down from a Westward region catch in 2023 of 7.3 million pounds which at the time made it the largest crab fishery in Alaska.
Kodiak and Westward crabbers have been fishing since 2022 on a large cohort of crab that first appeared in 2018 and is now decreasing. “It’s been tracking nicely, but those crabs are getting older and dwindling as they’ve been fished on for several seasons and also dying of old age,” said Nat Nichols, area manager at Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game at Kodiak.
Large Tanner crab cohorts typically occur every five to seven years around Kodiak, as indicated by 2013 and 2018 year classes that sustained fisheries for several years. It takes four to five years for the male crabs to reach legal size. Only male Tanners can be retained for sale and all other crabs must immediately be returned to the water unharmed.
Another large Tanner cohort has yet to be spotted on the annual surveys, said Cassie Whiteside, assistant regional manager at ADF&G. “We have observed some juvenile crab during the 2023 and 2024 surveys, but so far nothing as big as the 2018 group of crab we are fishing on now.”
Kodiak crabbers can target 155,000 pounds at the Eastside Section of the island and 405,000 pounds at the Southeast section.The Northeast, Southwest, Westside, North Mainland, South Mainland, and Semidi Island Sections will remain closed, as will the Chignik District for the third straight year.
The fishery is limited to boats 58 feet in length or smaller each with a limit of 20 pots.
For the 2024 fishery, crabbers represented by the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative agreed to separate deals with local processors for whom they individually fish. Reported prices were $3.70 per pound for Tanners by Pacific Seafoods, $3.60 by Alaska Pacific Seafoods and $3.50 by OBI and Trident.
Market conditions appear promising for crab in 2025.
