The Current Status of the Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) Stock and Fishery off Western Kamchatka

Abstract

The current status of the red king crab population off western Kamchatka is considered based on data from bottom trawl surveys and fishery statistics since 2013. Some biological parameters of this crab species are provided; its commercial stock is estimated; some features of red king crab fishery and determination of total allowable catch for the past 7 years are analyzed. The red king crab fishing was resumed in 2013 after an 8-year ban imposed due to the population decline. During this period, the stock recovered and reached values greater than those recorded before the ban: the total estimated size of red king crab population in 2017 was almost 244 million ind., which is the highest value for the recent 17 years of research; the estimated number of commercial-sized males, 110 million ind., has not been recorded from the western Kamchatka shelf for at least past 4 decades. Recently, the Severny Zapretny and Khairyuzovsky areas of the shelf zone have yielded their role of main feeding grounds for pre-recruit crabs and juveniles to the Ichinsky area located south. For the 7 years of red king crab fishery, harvest values have been steadily high. In the past 3 years, the major part of the annual catch of live crabs has been exported to China and South Korea. As the analysis of size structure show, the body size of male red king crabs has been increasing each year all over the shelf. This may be explained by the strict sorting of caught crabs aboard vessels transporting live crabs with the release of the largest individuals; another possible explanation is the relatively low recorded number of pre-recruits in the past 2 years. For the 7 years past (including 2019), the fishing mortality rate is estimated within a range of 5–16% of the crab stock actually recorded from the permitted fishery areas, which is a highly cautious approach. In the nearest future, the crab commercial stock is expected to gradually decrease, which, nevertheless, should not fall below the reference target value of biomass. The current status of the red king crab population off western Kamchatka does not raise concern, and the ongoing intense harvesting of this valuable species within the recommended catch size will not have any negative effect on its commercial stock.