Huge Southeast Alaska Tanner Crab Harvest On The Horizon

Here’s more from Alaska Public Media:

State crab managers haven’t seen this kind of encouraging preview for Southeast’s tanner fishery for a few decades. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has tracked the tanner population through annual surveys since the late 1990s.

“What we’re seeing is kind of historically high levels,” said Joe Stratman, the lead crab manager for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in the region. He says the numbers look like they did when the surveys first started.

The abundance estimate for the fishery is 5.81 million pounds, which is a 17% increase over last year.