Estimating Southeast Alaska Tanner Crab Abundance Using Pot Survey and Commercial Catch Data

• Main Authors: Jie Zheng, Janet M. Rumble, Gretchen H. Bishop
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alaska; Tanner crab
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.167.6827; http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/afrb/vol12_n2/zhenv12n2.pdf

Ab s t r a c t: A catch–survey analysis was developed for 11 Tanner crab stocks in Southeast Alaska. The models were applied to pot survey and commercial catch data time series ranging from 1999–2005 to 1978–2005, depending on the availability of data for each stock. The models fit the pot survey data very well for 9 out of 11 stocks. The models estimated absolute abundance for mature and legal males and relative abundance for mature females. The trends of absolute male abundance estimates differed among some stocks, and there was no a consistent pattern of male recruitment to the model for all 11 Tanner crab stocks. Mature male abundance and recruitment to the model declined during recent years for several stocks. Although legal harvest rates have been lower during the recent 10 years than for the previous period, overall harvest rates are still very high for some stocks.