Crab: King

Alaska king crab, Red king crab, Golden king crab, Blue king crab, Golden king crab

Kani

There are three species of king crab commonly found in the marketplace. They are distributed from British Columbia around the North Pacific to the Sea of Japan and have adapted to cold environments including continental shelf habitat in polar regions. Red king crab is the most common and the most commercially important across the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. King crabs typically live 20 to 30 years making them moderately vulnerable to fishing pressure. The traps also catch several other species of marine life and cause some impact to seafloor habitats. Alaskan based fisheries are considered to be a more sustainable choice.

King crab reach maturity in four to seven years, which is much slower than warm water crabs. King crab fecundity increases with size, may be related to food supply and can vary between locations. Therefore, some populations may act as sources and fishing these populations could have disproportionate effects on abundance.

Generally there is little data available, but reports indicate that stocks are in decline and that management is not sufficient. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) classifies king crab in the northeast Pacific as “fully exploited to depleted”. The fishery is operating at or close to an optimal yield level, with no expected room for further expansion and catches are well below historical levels.

Bycatch is considered minimal in King crabs fisheries where animals are captured in large wire traps or “pots” covered with nylon webbing. Bycatch in King crab fisheries includes females, sub-legal males, and crabs of non-target species. Due to recent implementation of the Crab Rationalization Program, bycatch has been increasing.

There are likely to be relatively small ecosystem impacts from the use of crab pots and no information is available on the ecosystem effects of removing crab biomass from these northern systems.

Management of the Russian fishery is considered insufficient and a “high” conservation concern. Permit requirements, quotas, gear limitation, area closures and size restrictions are all used; however, there are large amounts of illegal fishing occurring. Fishery enforcement is comprehensive and well organized, but simultaneously underfunded and understaffed Misreporting of catches via falsified data, exceeded bycatch limits, and fishing in restricted areas are all reported to regularly occur.

Where was this King crab caught?

No.