The board also raised the percentage of the central Gulf federal quota that is set aside for the Cook Inlet state-water fishery from 3 percent to 3.75 percent and created an opportunity for vessels 58 feet long and under to catch the lion's share of the state-water quota. Homer area management biologist Charlie Trowbridge explained that rather than create a 58-foot size limit, the board instead assigned a percentage of the quota to different sized vessels.
"They didn't establish a size limit, they established an allocation based on size," Trowbridge said. "No more than 25 percent (of the quota) may be caught by vessels larger than 58 feet between whenever state waters open and Sept. 1."
One hundred seventy-one boats blasted through the opilio tanner crab quota in the Bering Sea in just over five days, landing an estimated 19 million pounds in spite of a restrictive pot limit. The fishery opened at noon Jan. 15 and closed just before midnight Jan. 20. Last year 192 boats spent roughly nine days rounding up the same quota. Vessels 125 feet or less in length were allowed 70 pots, while vessels over 125 feet in length could fish up to 90 pots, the same as in 2004. The fishery was managed using in-season catch reports from numerous vessels on the grounds. Fishermen and processors settled on a price of $1.80 per pound for this season's catch, compared to $2.05 last year. The season got off to a tragic start with the sinking of the Kodiak-based 92-foot Big Valley, which took the lives of five of her six crew, and the loss of a crewman from the 134-foot Sultan, who was swept overboard an hour before the start of the fishery.
The Kodiak bairdi tanner crab season is off to an extremely slow start because of poor prices. While not technically a strike, boats in the area do not seem interested in fishing for the $1.85 per pound being offered by area processors, and no landings have been made. Last year fishermen ended up at $2.25 per pound. Dave Woodruff, president of Alaska Fresh Seafoods in Kodiak, said there are several things standing in the way of a better price, including small size. "These crab are competing with opilios," Woodruff said. "Normally you could expect a 12-ounce section, we're seeing 8-ounce sections. Plus we're trying to introduce these crab new onto the market." Woodruff said that crab from Canada and Russia are already plugging freezers, and now crab from the just-finished Bering Sea opilio season are finding their way to market. He doesn't see a solution on the horizon.
"I have not been able to find a market that would give these guys a price that they're willing to fish for," Woodruff lamented. "They want to go fishing just as bad as I want to process their catch. I honestly don't know what they're going to do. They may just give up their tanner season," he said.
Most of the fishermen also participate in the state-waters pot cod fishery, which opens today. Woodruff noted that if fishermen wait until that season is over to go crab fishing, there will be quality problems. "If they wait another three weeks, crab will start double-skinning, mating and molting season. If they don't catch them before mid-February, we're in big trouble," Woodruff said.
The quota for Kodiak is 1.75 million pounds, and 73 boats are registered for the fishery. Meanwhile, boats in Unalaska rounded up their 35,000 pound quota in just over three days, and received a price of $2.25 per pound. Woodruff speculated that because of the small quota and larger crab, processors were able to fly the product to Anchorage and sell it on the fresh market.
Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978, and has also designed and built gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish, and gillnets salmon in Upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist.
