Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

(NMFS) since the early 1970's.
In addition, an extensive, joint NMFS-
OCSEAP survey was conducted in the EBS in summer 1975 and reported by
Pereyra et al. (1976).
Two of the sub-areas defined in the NMFS-OCSEAP
survey (Fig. 4.2a) are of particular interest in this report.
Sub-area
2 contains nearly all of the St. George Basin and Sub-area 1 contains
the proposed oil lease areas of the North Aleutian Shelf.
Both areas
contain large stocks of Tanner crab (Fig. 4.2b and Pereyra et al.
1976:326, 331) and are the principal focus of recent commercial fishing
efforts (Fig. 4.3).
The prognosis is for a continued high yield from
the fishery when both species are considered together, although the
stocks have continued to show a decline since 1975 (Otto 1981).
The fishery for Tanner crabs is managed for the harvest of males
only.
For C. bairdi, the lower legal size limit is 139 mm (5.5 inches)
across the widest portion of the carapace (carapace spines not included).
No size limit was in effect for male C. opilio through the 1982 fishing
season.
The average landed Tanner crab of the two species was 2.2 and
1.2 pounds, respectively, in 1982, with mean carapace widths (CW) of
148.7 and 109 mm (Eaton 1982). The catch per unit effort (CPUE) for C.
bairdi and C. opilio have shown a steady decline since 1979 (Table 4.1).
The number of vessels involved in the American Tanner crab fishery
increased from 1974 to 1981, but decreased in 1982 to 136 (Table 4.1).
Primary landing ports for Tanner crab caught in the SEBS are Dutch
Harbor and Akutan. Otto (1981) provides a detailed history of the
Tanner crab fishery of this region.
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