Crab

Opilio and Bairdi SEASON

ALASKAN snow crab season closed 2023-2024.

SEASON TYPICALLY JULY-JUNE

Chionoecetes spp.
Market Name(s): Snow Crab,Alaska Snow Crab,Spider Crab,Tanner Crab, Queen Crab (Canada)

Primary Source(s): Canada, USA, Norway, Russia

Opilio Snow Crab: Clusters, Cocktail Claws and Combo Meat (Alaska, Canada, Russia, Norway, Greenland)

Bairdi Snow Crab: Clusters (Alaska & Russia)

Russian Deep-Water Snow Crab: Clusters (Japonicus and Angulatus)

Alaskan baidi is sold 12ozup and 12ounces down.

The North American snow crab fishery targets three species: Chionoecetes opilio, C. bairdi and C. tanneri. Technically, opilios are snow crabs, and bairdis are tanners. Alaska’s opilio fishery occurs in the Bering Sea and is much larger than its bairdi fishery. Bairdi are taken in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The most important commercially is opilio, which is also the only species caught in both the Atlantic and Pacific. It has supported major fisheries in both Alaska and the Canadian Maritimes (where it’s sometimes called queen crab). Snow crabs are taken in traps, from sandy bottoms in depths of 30 to 1,500 feet. They are smaller and less red than king crabs and, instead of the king’s three sets of walking legs, these crabs have four sets, plus a pair of claws. Bairdi are the largest snow crab, averaging 5 pounds and measuring 3 feet from tip to tip. Opilio average just over 1 pound; tanners are slightly larger, with longer, skinnier legs.

While Alaska King crab garners a lot of attention for its impressive size, Alaska Snow crab also has a very loyal following among crab lovers and chefs. Smaller than King crab, Snow crab is beloved for its extraordinarily long, easy-to-crack legs. Although harvested in icy waters off the coast of Alaska, Snow crab actually gets its name from its flavorful meat which turns to a snowy white when cooked. With a delicate texture, sweet taste and leg shells that can be easily cracked open with just your hands, it is easy to see why Alaska Snow crab has so many fans!

Sustainability
According to Fishwatch, “U.S. wild-caught Alaska Snow crab is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations. Alaska Snow crab is harvested off of the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea under the management of NOAA Fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in order to ensure sustainability for future generations. Only male crabs of a certain size are harvested, allowing the females to reproduce and replace the ones that were harvested. Economic sustainability is also addressed in the Alaska Snow crab fishery through the Community Development Quota Program which opens participation and investment to eligible coastal communities by allowing them ten percent of the harvest.

Habitat and species
There are two species of Snow crab harvested from the icy waters of the Bering Sea in Alaska: Chionoecetes opilio and Chionoecetes Bairdi. Both species are found on the muddy and sandy bottom of the continental shelf and slope, where they feed on animals living in the sediment and avoid predators by burrowing into the mud. Opilio, which are sometimes referred to as Opies or Queen crab, are the smaller, more readily available of the two species and typically weigh 1 ½-2 lbs. Bairdi, also known as Tanner crab, can range in size from 3-5 lbs and command a higher price due to their size and restricted quotas. Many crabbers consider Bairdi to be the best of Alaska crab for its combination of meat fill, flavor and thin shells which are easy to crack.

RUSSIAN OPILIO
An early holiday gift arrived this past week for crab lovers! The 2021 Russian crab Total allowable catch for 2021 has been released and shows that the crab resource in both the Far East and Barents Sea remains strong. The combined Far East and Barents Sea crab fishery increasing 1.5% in 2021 to over 100mm M/t (220mm lbs.). The Red king crab quota increased 3.8%, Blue king crab 3% and Opilio snow crab increasing 8%.

Paralithodes camtschaticus

SEPTEMBER to JANUARY

Red King Crab: Leg and Claws (Russia and Alaska)

Gold King Crab: Leg and Claws (Russian and Alaska)

Red king crabs are the largest of the commercially harvested crabs. They range in color from brownish to bluish red and are covered in sharp spines. They have three pairs of walking legs and one pair of claws. Their claws are different shapes. One is a large, heavy-duty claw that is used for crushing prey, and the other smaller claw is used for more delicate handling of food items. Determining the sex of red king crabs is easy. Males have a triangular abdominal flap and females have a rounded one.
Red king crabs can grow to be very large, up to 24 pounds with a leg span of 5 feet. Males grow faster and larger than females. Female red king crabs reproduce once a year and release between 50,000 and 500,000 eggs. Larvae hatch from eggs looking like tiny shrimp. The larvae feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton for 2 to 3 months before metamorphosing into tiny crabs and settling on the ocean bottom. Red king crabs can only grow by molting (shedding their old shell and growing a new one). After molting they are soft and vulnerable to predators until their new shell hardens. Red king crabs eat almost anything they can find and crush with their claws. Smaller crabs eat algae, small worms, small clams, and other small animals. Larger crabs eat a much wider range of items including worms, clams, mussels, barnacles, crabs, fish, sea stars, sand dollars, and brittle stars. Smaller crabs are eaten by a variety of groundfish, octopi, sea otters, and crabs, including other red king crabs. Large red king crabs have few predators except right after molting.

In North American waters, red king crabs are found in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska, and south to British Columbia, Canada.

Management
NOAA Fisheries, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game manage the red king crab fishery. Managed under the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs, which defers management of crab fisheries to the State of Alaska with federal oversight. State regulations must comply with the fishery management plan, the national standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable federal laws:

The red king crab fishery is currently managed according to the “three S’s”—size, sex, and season. Only male crabs of a certain size may be harvested, and fishing is not allowed during mating and molting periods. These measures help ensure that crabs are able to reproduce and replace the ones that are harvested. Fishermen must install escape panels and rings on their pots to prevent ghost fishing (when lost pots continue to capture and kill species) and to reduce bycatch. Every year, managers set the harvest limit for the next fishing season using the most recent estimates of crab abundance. Managers allocate shares of the harvest among harvesters, processors, and coastal communities through the crab rationalization program, which was implemented in 2005 to address economic, safety, and environmental issues in the fishery. This program includes a community development quota, which protects community interests by allowing community groups a percentage of the harvest. They’re given the opportunity to purchase shares in the fishery before the shares are offered for sale outside the community.