Bering Sea Snow Crab Quota Set at 18.9 Million Pounds; Small Bairdi Fishery Also Will Open
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton October 5, 2017
The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game has announced Opilio (Snow Crab) quotas for 2017-18.
Total allowable catch will be 18.961 million pounds. Of this 1.896 million is allocated to CDQ fisheries, and 17.064 million is allocated to IFQ holders.
This is the lowest snow crab TAC in Alaska since the crab rationalization program was put in place in 2005...
In fact, it is the lowest level of harvest since 1971.
In the past four years, Opilio crab TAC’s have declined precipitously, from near 70 million pounds in 2014-15 to 21.57 million pounds in 2016-17. This year, although recruitment has improved, the TAC remains low....
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