As the majority of Bering Sea crabs are experiencing a decline, Dungeness crab is breaking records in places that aren’t ever saw them.
The North Peninsula District in the eastern Bering Sea opened as a commercial Dungeness fishing venture in the beginning of the 1990s. In the early days it was normal to have just one or two vessels to fish the region during the seasons. During other times, there were no boats.
The numbers grew modestly through the decadeshowever, that is now accelerating to the point of being exponential.
“The pots we’re seeing emerging from the fishery are completely filled with crab,” said Ethan Nichols who works for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Like it’s impossible to think about how many crabs could be contained in the pot.”
Nichols serves as Fish and Games’ assistant manager for shellfish and groundfish at Dutch Harbor. The fishery exploded in 2012 and was the biggest Dungeness crab fishing operation in Alaska which brought in 35% of Alaska’s entire Dungeness landings.
Why is the population of this species growing, while red king crab and snow crab populations are declining?
The answer could be the identical for both of the questions climate change.
“We believe it’s possible that the recent warmer circumstances in the Bering Sea have created conditions that favor Dungeness crabs,” Nichols said.
The similar warming trend likely to push king crab further north may bring Dungeness crabs to the eastern Bering Sea. However, Nichols stated that the trend is still too early to provide an answer that is definitive.
“I’m hoping that when we get many more years of consistent fishing We’ll be able to get more of an understanding of the totality of crabs within the area,” he said. “And it is possible that this is an isolated incident for a few years or if it could be a larger, more consistent Dungeness catch.”
The only thing that is certain is that crabbers are taking notice. In the past year, the fleet has harvested 3 million pounds Dungeness crab, which was the record for the largest amount of crab in the district.
This boom has some worried. In January one month, an Unalaska fisherman presented an emergency plan to ADF&G and warned that the recent increase in vessel involvement could lead to an over-harvesting of fish.
“The person who put this into place was worried about massive boats that would be coming in from the south with 3000 pots at a time,” Nichols said.
In the wake of the incident, the department set an upper limit on Dungeness pots – the first time they’d ever done this for the entire district. The law limits Pots of 500 to 750 pots per vessel, based on how many vessels have been registered. This year, the limit is 500.
The department says the current season is beginning more slowly than the previous year with 33,000 lbs of Dungeness crabs being caught since May 1.
The fishing will be open until October 18 or until limits on pots are exceeded.
