Alaska Fish Factor: Crab catches dominate Alaska's fish news as boats gear up

Crab catches dominate Alaska’s fish news in early October as boats gear up for mid-month openers in the Bering Sea.

As expected, crabbers will see increased catches for snow crab after the annual survey showed a 60 percent boost in market sized males and nearly the same for females (only male crabs can be retained for sale).

Managers announced this week a catch of 27.5 million pounds of snow crab, up 47 percent from last season. Even better, biologists documented one of the largest numbers of small snow crab poised to enter the fishery they’ve ever seen.

Also as expected, the news is bad for b...