Alaska’s Bering Sea crabbers are reeling from the devastating news that all major crab stocks are down substantially, based on summer survey results, and the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery will be closed for the first time in more than 25 years.
The state announced the closure Sept. 3.
That stock has been on a steady decline for several years, and the 2020 harvest had dwindled to just 2.6 million pounds.
Most shocking was the drastic turnaround for snow crab stocks, which in 2018 showed a 60% boost in market-sized male crabs (the only ones retained for sale) and nearly the same for females....
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