Huge rise in Russian king crab, opilio quotas to help offset Alaska cuts
Russian authorities raise catch levels for both Barents and Bering Seas.
While crab industries have been shaken by a sharp reduction in quotas in Alaska for the upcoming season, Russian authorities last week set greater quotas for king crab, opilio, and bairdi in Russia’s Far East region for the 2017 season.
King crab quota in the Far East region for the 2017 season is set to jump 27 percent from the previous season to 13,022 metric tons, Russia's federal fisheries agency, Rosrybolovstvo, announced Oct. 10. This is the third straight season the agency has set quotas higher.
In the Sea of Okhotsk, the western Kamchatka region is the largest king crab supplier, with an allocated quota of 8,574 metric tons, an increase of 1,989 metric tons from 2016.
For the Barents Sea, the king crab quota will see a 19 percent increase in total allowable catch to 8,510 metric tons. This sends the nation’s overall quota to 21,532 metric tons for 2017, up 24 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the overall opilio quota for the Far East will hit a record high for recent years of 25,679 metric tons, an increase of 16 percent from the 2016 season. The quota in the Barents Sea will stay unchanged compared to the past two seasons at 1,600 metric tons.
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