Taking Refuge from Bycatch Issues: Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) and Trawl Fisheries in the Eastern Bering Sea

1993 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 1993-2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Armstrong ◽  
Thomas C. Wainwright ◽  
Gregory C. Jensen ◽  
Paul A. Dinnel ◽  
Helle B. Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Bering Sea ◽  
Red King Crab ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschaticus ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Closed Area ◽  
Eastern Bering Sea ◽  
Male Crab ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Juvenile Habitat ◽  
Trawl Fisheries

Concerns about possibly heavy impacts of bottom trawl fisheries on red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) pot fisheries in the eastern Bering Sea led in 1987 to an emergency closure of trawling in an area of adult and juvenile crab habitat. We examine the effectiveness of this bycatch refuge in protecting and possibly enhancing the crab resource using three approaches. First, bycatch of crab in trawl fisheries is a small proportion of total estimated abundance throughout the southeastern Bering Sea but may be high relative to stock abundance within the closed area and relative to annual crab landings; recent regulations have diminished this apparent effect. Effects of direct bycatch on the stock are obscured by lack of evidence on indirect effects of trawling, including crushing of crab and degredation of juvenile habitat. Second, surveys inside and outside the refuge before and after closure show no significant changes in abundance of female and prerecruit male crab. Third, important breeding and hatching grounds and juvenile habitat are not protected by the refuge, leaving long-term stock renewal subject to trawl impacts. We suggest that full consideration of the needs of all life history stages could lead to a more effective refuge design.

scholarly journals Low allozyme heterozygosity in North Pacific and Bering Sea populations of red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus): adaptive specialization, population bottleneck, or metapopulation structure?

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Stewart Grant ◽  
Susan E. Merkouris ◽  
Gordon H. Kruse ◽  
Lisa W. Seeb
Keyword(s):  
Bering Sea ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Population Bottleneck ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Red King Crab ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschaticus ◽  
Allozyme Diversity ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Metapopulation Structure ◽  
Adaptive Specialization

AbstractGrant, W. S., Merkouris, S. E., Kruse, G. H., and Seeb, L. W. 2011. Low allozyme heterozygosity in North Pacific and Bering Sea populations of red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus): adaptive specialization, population bottleneck, or metapopulation structure? – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: . Populations of red king crab in the North Pacific and Bering Sea have declined in response to ocean-climate shifts and to harvesting. An understanding of how populations are geographically structured is important to the management of these depressed resources. Here, the Mendelian variability at 38 enzyme-encoding loci was surveyed in 27 samples (n = 2427) from 18 general locations. Sample heterozygosities were low, averaging HE = 0.015 among samples. Weak genetic structure was detected among three groups of populations, the Bering Sea, central Gulf of Alaska, and Southeast Alaska, but without significant isolation by distance among populations. A sample from Adak Island in the western Aleutians was genetically different from the remaining samples. The lack of differentiation among populations within regions may, in part, be due to post-glacial expansions and a lack of migration-drift equilibrium and to limited statistical power imposed by low levels of polymorphism. Departures from neutrality may reflect the effects of both selective and historical factors. The low allozyme diversity in red king crab may, in part, be attributable to adaptive specialization, background selection, ice-age population bottlenecks, or metapopulation dynamics in a climatically unstable North Pacific.

Temperature-Dependent Growth of Juvenile Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtschatica) and its Effects on Size-at-Age and Subsequent Recruitment in the Eastern Bering Sea

1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 1307-1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley G. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Bering Sea ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Red King Crab ◽  
Sea Temperature ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Recruitment Failure ◽  
Eastern Bering Sea ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschatica ◽  
Size Interval ◽  
Size At Age

A temperature-based growth relationship was derived for juvenile red king crab (Paralithodes camtschatica) from published data. Growth of annual cohorts of crab was simulated at various locations in Bristol Bay, AK, using long-term water temperature observations, and the resulting mean sizes were compared with those observed by the annual National Marine Fisheries Service eastern Bering Sea crab survey. Results indicate that mean age-at-recruitment is 3–5 yr greater than previously estimated, and has decreased from 9.5 to 7.5 yr over the past decade as a result of increasing sea temperature. Single year-classes require 3–5 yr for complete recruitment to the 'mature' size interval, and recruitment in any year may consist of crabs from four to five year-classes. The high landings and subsequent crash of the Bering Sea red king crab population during the late 1970's probably originated from one or more adjacent strong year-classes in the late 1960's which recruited over a period of several years, followed by a period of recruitment failure and high mortality. Future stock–recruitment studies should account for the effects of multi-year recruitment and year-class overlap.

A Cost-Benefit Method for Determining Optimum Closed Fishing Areas to Reduce the Trawl Catch of Prohibited Species

1984 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Somerton ◽  
Jeffrey June
Keyword(s):  
Bering Sea ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Research Survey ◽  
Eastern Bering Sea ◽  
Yellowfin Sole ◽  
Survey Estimates ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschatica ◽  
Limanda Aspera ◽  
Trawl Fisheries

Red king crab (Paralithodes camtschatica), a prohibited species, are incidentally caught by United States trawl fisheries for yellowfin sole (Limanda aspera) and other groundfish in the eastern Bering Sea. To reduce this incidental catch, we propose a method for determining a king crab conservation zone where trawling would be prohibited. This method considers the gross revenue potentially gained by the yellowfin sole fishery and lost by the king crab fishery by allowing trawling in each of a number of equal-size areas. Utilizing exvessel prices and research survey estimates of species densities, areas are assigned relative values equal to the value of groundfish minus the value of king crab. By including all areas with negative relative values in the conservation zone, the potential gross revenue that could be obtained from the groundfish and king crab resource is maximized.

Selecting species specific vitality metrics to predict red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) discard survival

2021 ◽  
Vol 240 ◽  
pp. 105964
Author(s):  
Cory Lescher ◽  
Noëlle Yochum ◽  
Brad Harris ◽  
Nathan Wolf ◽  
John Gauvin
Keyword(s):  
Red King Crab ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschaticus ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Species Specific

scholarly journals Fishery-induced changes in Norwegian red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) reproductive potential

2013 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Merete Hjelset
Keyword(s):  
Egg Production ◽  
Barents Sea ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Size Composition ◽  
Red King Crab ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschaticus ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Individual Fecundity

Abstract Hjelset, A. M. 2014. Fishery-induced changes in Norwegian red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) reproductive potential. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 365–373. The introduced red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) in the Barents Sea supports a valuable fishery in northern Norway. In this paper, I examine the effect of the increased harvest rate and the recently added female quota on the potential egg production of the stock. The size ranges of males and females in the period 1995–2011 were recorded, and estimated stock abundance of ovigerous females and established individual fecundity parameters from 2000–2007 were used to assess the reproductive potential of the stock from 1995–2011. The upper size ranges of males and females decreased throughout the period studied, presumably mainly due to fishing. The change in size composition among ovigerous females and functional mature males, and the reduced mean individual fecundity in the stock seem to have had a negative effect on the potential egg production of the stock.

Effects of the invasive red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) on soft-bottom fauna in Varangerfjorden, northern Norway

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eivind Oug ◽  
Sabine K. J. Cochrane ◽  
Jan H. Sundet ◽  
Karl Norling ◽  
Hans C. Nilsson
Keyword(s):  
Bottom Fauna ◽  
Red King Crab ◽  
Paralithodes Camtschaticus ◽  
Soft Bottom ◽  
King Crab ◽  
Northern Norway
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