Red King Crab Mating Success, Sex Ratio, Spatial Distribution, and Abundance Estimates as Artifacts of Survey Timing in Bristol Bay, Alaska

Because of concern about the inability to manage the Bristol Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) fishery in Alaska and, in particular, to use in-season fishery performance to close the fishery at or near the preseason guideline harvest level, increasingly stringent pot limits were adopted to elongate the collapsing seasons. This paper provides a rigorous examination of the effect that pot limits had on season elongation and whether a redistribution of wealth occurred between large and small fishing vessels as a result of the policy. A simulation model of the fishery shows that pot limits did not elongate the season sufficiently to improve in-season management. Moreover, the policy allowed vessels to capture efficiency gains arising from an industry-wide reduction in fishing capacity. Both vessel size classes benefited from mutual gear reduction in all years except 1992. Redistribution of wealth was found to occur only in one year of the five years examined.

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Temperature Effects on Assessment of Red King Crab in Bristol Bay, Alaska

Biology and Management of Exploited Crab Populations under Climate Change ◽

10.4027/bmecpcc.2010.25 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

L.A. Chilton ◽

R.J. Foy ◽

C.E. Armistead

Keyword(s):

Temperature Effects ◽

Red King Crab ◽

Bristol Bay ◽

King Crab

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Analysis of Minimum Size Limit for the Red King Crab Fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska

North American Journal of Fisheries Management ◽

10.1577/1548-8675(2000)020<0307:aomslf>2.3.co;2 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 307-319 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Gordon H. Kruse ◽

Laurence C. Byrne ◽

Fritz C. Funk ◽

Scott C. Matulich ◽

Jie Zheng

Keyword(s):

Minimum Size ◽

Red King Crab ◽

Bristol Bay ◽

King Crab ◽

Size Limit

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A catch per unit effort - soak time model for the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, 1991-1997

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f00-258 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 334-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Geneviève Briand ◽

Scott C Matulich ◽

Ron C Mittelhammer

Keyword(s):

Environmental Effects ◽

Behavioral Responses ◽

Recursive Estimation ◽

Commercial Fisheries ◽

Red King Crab ◽

Catch Per Unit Effort ◽

Bristol Bay ◽

Time Model ◽

King Crab ◽

Unit Effort

Postseason commercial fisheries data are used to estimate a catch per unit effort (CPUE) soak time relationship for the 19911993 and 19961997 Bristol Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) fishery in order to gain regulatory and in-season management insight. Use of commercial fishery data allows our model to capture the influence of biological and environmental effects as well as behavioral responses of crabbers to changing natural and regulatory conditions on CPUE. However, data deficiencies present a variety of estimation challenges, especially when the data are derived from neither a contemporaneous nor a scientifically designed sample of the fleet. A statistical framework for dealing with such challenges is illustrated in this paper. This research uncovered three major results. First, data pooling guided by recursive estimation/hypothesis testing is shown to be essential. Second, the analysis provides insight into CPUE response to changing conditions, whether biological, ecological, or policy induced. Third, it is apparent that more complete and contemporaneous collection of commercial fisheries data is critical to refine the estimation of CPUE - soak time relationships. Then, it may be possible to isolate the inter- and intra-seasonal influence of biological and environmental effects as well as behavioral responses of crabbers to changing natural and regulatory conditions.

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