Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

published prior to an anticipated lease sale in mid-1983 (Hameedi 1982),
and reports of the NAS meeting are in review and expected by summer
1983. Data and interpretations from the present study on decapod larvae
were included in proceedings from both meetings (Curl and Manen 1982;
Armstrong et al.
1983), and served to extend knowledge on the biology
and ecology of commercial crabs that was used to predict vulnerability
of the species.
Crabs in the southeastern Bering Sea constitute one of the most
valuable crustacean fisheries in the world.
Two principle groups, king
crab (Paralithodes camtschatica and P. platypus) and Tanner crab
(Chionoecetes bairdi and C. opilio) comprised 35.4% and 23%,
respectively, of total U.S. crab landings in 1980.
Their respective
dollar values were 60% and 11.7% of total ex-vessel U.S. crab revenues
of $291,350,000 (NOAA 1981; Pacific Packers 1981; Sections 3.0 and 4.0 of
this report give extensive literature reviews of general biology and
fishery information on king and Tanner crab).
Since the beginning of
this project in January 1981, commercial fishing has suffered two years
of depressed landings in 1981 and 1982, particularly of red king crab.
Landings declined from 131 x 106 lb in 1980 to about 35 x 106 in 1981
(INPFC 1982), and the fishery was closed at about 3.5 x 10 6 in 1982 (M.
Hayes, NMFS, Seattle, pers. communication).
Such severe reductions in
landings are in accord with NMFS predictions of decreased abundance
(5-fold decrease from 1979 to 82: Otto et al. 1982), and reflect a substantial,
but unexplained, variation in success of year-classes.
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