For the first time in twenty years, there were no commercial red king crab fisheries in the Norton Sound this year. Instead, some local fishing crews are now catching cod, a new development in the region.
Nome resident Phil Pryzmont has spent 12 years cod fishing in Alaska. He says red king crab is a far more profitable catch, at $7 per pound. Although cod won’t make ends meet for him this season he says he’s glad he can still fish.
“We’ve been seeing the cod for a long time, and at least some of us have wanted to have a fishery here. We have really nice cod, big fish, significantly bigger than the ones I fish in Kodiak and fewer parasites also… It’s kind of an impetus to get started on another fishery that definitely has some potential here,” Pryzmont told listeners.
Image at top: Boats at the Nome harbor.
