For the second year in a row, crab fisheries in southwest Alaska are facing steep cuts. This year’s Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is 22 percent smaller than last year.
The season opens October 15.
There will be no fishery for St. Matthew’s blue king crab because of low abundance.
The Pribilof District red and blue king crab fisheries will also remain closed due to continued low abundance and uncertainty from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on the accuracy of red king crab estimates.
Zoe Sobel is a reporter with Alaska's Energy Desk based in Unalaska. As a high schooler in Portland, Maine, Zoë Sobel got her first taste of public radio at NPR’s easternmost station. From there, she moved to Boston where she studied at Wellesley College and worked at WBUR, covering sports for Only A Game and the trial of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
