Red, blue king crab fishing in Southeastern closed

Opening day had been set for Nov. 1, but the state Department of Fish and Game surveyed nine locations where fishermen typically catch red king crab and determined the amount of mature male red king crab is at the lowest level in 16 years, the Juneau Empire reported Thursday.

The news was a blow to the roughly 80 permit holders the closure will affect; some doubted the survey's validity.

"We don't believe their survey results are a complete indication of the health of the stocks," said Kathy Hansen, executive director for the Southeast Alaska Fishermen's Alliance.

The Fish and Game department conducted the survey between late June and early August. Six of the surveyed areas were determined to be in poor stock health, two were below average, and one was moderate, said Joe Stratman, the department's shellfish management project leader.

Blue crab is considered an "insignificant bycatch" of the red crab fishery, which is why it is included in the closure, said Stratman, who declined to make a prediction about the chances for a 2010 season.

Ladd Norheim of Petersburg said he was disappointed, but not surprised by the closure. Even though he can't catch red king crab, he still has to make payments on his permit.

"We just keep the boats tied up and hope that there is enough brown crab and tanner crab to make our payments," he said.

The red king crab has been in decline since 2001, but Norheim contends there is an abundance. For some reason, he said, the surveyors can't seem to find them each summer.

"They randomly throw these pots on those sets, and if there's no crab in them that means there is no crab in the area," he said. "And you know, the red king crab is the most elusive crab to try and catch of all the species because they are like big cows -- they roam around all over the place."

Crab fishermen are trying to get an independent biologist to conduct a separate survey, Norheim said.

"If they're not there, then fine, we can all sit back and relax and figure out what the problem is," he said. "If they are there, we want to be able to fish on them."