Executive Summary

• Main Authors: William Gaeuman, Stock Blue King Crab, Paralithodes Platypus, Saint Matthew Isl
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Tac; Snow crab
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.396.6310; http://209.112.168.2/npfmc/PDFdocuments/membership/PlanTeam/Crab/September13/SMBKC.pdf

2. Catches: Peak historical harvest was 9.454 million pounds (4,288 t) in 1983/84. The fishery was closed for 10 years after the stock was declared overfished in 1999. Fishing resumed in 2009/10 with a fishery-reported retained catch of 0.461 million pounds (209 t), less than half the 1.167 million pound (529.3 t) TAC. The TAC was increased to 1.600 million pounds (725.7 t) in 2010/11 and to 2.359 million pounds (1,151 t) in 2011/12, but reported catches again fell short at 1.264 million pounds (573.3 t; 79 % of the TAC) and 1.881 million pounds (853.2 t; 80 % of the TAC), respectively. In 2012/13, by contrast, harvesters landed 99 % of a reduced TAC of 1.630 million pounds (739.4 t), though fishery efficiency, at about 10 crab per pot, was little changed from what it had been in each of the previous three years. Total male discard mortality in the 2012/13 directed fishery is estimated from ADF&G crab-observer data at 0.193 million pounds (87.5 t), assuming 20 % handling mortality. Male bycatch mortality in the 2012/13 groundfish fisheries is estimated from NMFS observer data at 0.001 million pounds (0.5 t), and an additional estimated 0.0004 million pounds ( 0.2 t) of male biomass was removed from the stock as bycatch in the 2012/13 Bering Sea snow crab fishery. 3. Stock biomass: Following a period of low numbers after the stock was declared overfished in