The Norton Sound commercial king crab summer season will close Thursday at noon, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The agency’s Nome office announced the closure on Tuesday, June 23, citing that the season's harvest quota – just over 230,000 pounds plus about 3,000 pounds carried from the winter fishery – has nearly reached its limit and was expected to be met based on catch rates.
Under the closure, crab pots must be left with bait removed and doors secured open at 11:59 a.m. Thursday, and all crab must be delivered to Nome by midnight.
That deadline is forcing crabbers to weigh making one more trip to retrieve their pots while conditions on the water deteriorate.
Winds and swells tonight are making some crabbers like Kelsi Ivanoff nervous about heading out before the deadline. She said Wednesday night’s weather could be unsafe, especially for smaller vessels operating miles offshore.
“Having them go out in these conditions is not ideal,” she said. “The swells are huge out there, it may not look bad on shore but when you are 15, 20, 25 miles out the swells, it's much different than what you see here in town.”
Stephen Dennis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said winds are forecast to be strongest overnight and then ease by midday Thursday.
“We'll see winds 10 to 15 knots, maybe gusts up to 20 through the overnight hours, and then as the sun begins to come up, we'll start to see conditions improve as high pressure builds and the wind speeds will drop with them,” Dennis said.
Dennis said the winds aren’t fast enough to issue a small craft advisory, but Ivanoff said even 15 mph, or 13 knot, winds can cause troubles for crabbers. She said that means crews are caught between playing it safe and losing a crucial payday.
“Otherwise we can’t sell our crab, otherwise we face getting our gear taken away, fines,” Ivanoff said. “I’m not sure exactly what the penalties are but for sure we won't be able to sell our pots to NSEDC and that's a lot of money lost.”
Ivanoff said even a six to twelve hour extension to the season would mean a safer window for vessels to go out and retrieve their catch.
“No one is going out there resetting their pots in this, rebaiting their pots in this to get more crab, everyone is sitting in the harbor waiting on the weather,” Ivanoff said. “We don't want it extended to get more crab, we want it extended for the safety of the fleet.”
ADF&G officials say they will not extend the closure. Ethan Kelso, Norton Sound’s Shellfish Management Biologist, says the fishery is within a few percent of the quota and that an extension could push the harvest over the limit. He said the department considered closing it earlier, but opted to give crabbers more time because winds had already picked up.
“Whatever fisherman harvest tomorrow, honestly, will just be a bonus,” Kelso said. “We considered closing it on just this evening itself, just due to conditions, just a little bit more time in terms of conditions.”
The Norton Sound king crab season is scheduled to close at 11:59 a.m. Thursday and all vessels must have crab delivered to NSEDC by 11:59 p.m. Thursday night.
