No Change in Allowable Red Crab Landings for 2017-2019

by Laurie Schreiber

DANVERS, Mass.—At its September meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) approved an allowable biological catch (ABC) of 1,775 metric tons for the harvest of red crabs in fishing years 2017-2019.

The tonnage is expressed in landings of male red crabs in the directed fishery. The specification will go to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for approval.

One NEFMC commenter expressed concern that fishermen might be fishing too much on large males on Georges Bank. He said red crab fishing on Georges Bank started in the early 2000s, then landings dropped there, although landings increased elsewhere. And, he said, there’s been a big increase in the carapace width of red crabs collected in recent years, which would link to the movement of the fishery further to the south. So, he asked whether the advent of larger crabs from waters further to the south meant that large crabs on Georges Bank have been fished down, or whether it was a market-driven result.

Red crab fisherman John Williams said it was market-driven.

“We’ve had markets that wanted nothing but big crabs, so we’ve only kept the big crabs,” said Williams. Also, he said, there’s always bigger crabs in southern waters.

NEFMC member Mark Alexander wanted to know if fishermen were able to target large crabs due to selective gear, or if there was selectivity in processing the catch.

Williams said fishermen fish deeper waters to find larger crabs.

“It’s depth distribution,” he said. “You can find larger crabs down deeper. We used to fish in shallower water. Now we’ve moved to 20 fathoms. There’s less per CPUE [catch per unit of effort], but they’re worth more to us.”

According to NEFMC information, the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery is data-poor, but recent landings, port samples, discard information, and economic data “suggest there has been no change in the size of the red crab stock since Amendment 3 was implemented in 2011.” The new specifications are on part with long-term (1974-2008) average landings and 2014-2016 specifications.