Southeast’s Dungeness harvests lower than expected

Dungeness crab at Pike Place Market in Seattle, October 2011. (Creative Commons photo by jpellgen)
Commercial Dungeness crab fishing in Southeast Alaska this fall turned out to be below average in both harvest and participation and below what managers expected for the season.
Fishing closed in most areas of Southeast on November 30.
The fall harvest was approximately 403,000 pounds. That’s about 150,000 pounds less than last year.
Kellii Wood is a Crab Biologist with the Alaska Department