BRISTOL BAY RED KING CRAB STOCK ASSESSMENT IN FALL 2010
1. Stock: red king crab (RKC), Paralithodes camtschaticus, in Bristol Bay, Alaska. 2. Catches: The domestic RKC fishery began to expand in the late 1960s and peaked in 1980 with a catch of 129.95 million lbs (58,943 t). The catch declined dramatically in the early 1980s and has stayed at low levels...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.172.7663 http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/npfmc/membership/plan_teams/CPT/910Chapters/RKC_910.pdf |
| Summary: | 1. Stock: red king crab (RKC), Paralithodes camtschaticus, in Bristol Bay, Alaska. 2. Catches: The domestic RKC fishery began to expand in the late 1960s and peaked in 1980 with a catch of 129.95 million lbs (58,943 t). The catch declined dramatically in the early 1980s and has stayed at low levels during the last two decades. Catches during recent years were among the high catches in last 15 years. The retained catch was about 4 million lbs (1,814 t) less in 2009/10 than 2008/09. Bycatches from groundfish trawl fisheries were steady during the last 10 years. 3. Stock biomass: Estimated mature biomass increased dramatically in the mid 1970s and decreased precipitously in the early 1980s. Estimated mature crab abundance has increased during the last 20 years with mature females being 4.4 times more abundant in 2010 than in 1985 and mature males being 2.8 times more abundant in 2010 than in 1985. 4. Recruitment: estimated recruitment was high during 1970s and early 1980s and has generally been low since 1985 (1978 year class). During 1985-2010, only estimated recruitment in 1995, 2002 and 2005 was above historical average. Estimated recruitment was extremely low during the last 3 years. 5. Management performance: |
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