Norton Sound’s winter commercial red king crab fishery, which opened Feb. 25 with a guideline harvest level of 12,048 pounds, is progressing slowly due to a lack of sufficient offshore ice.
Commercial harvesters traditionally cut holes in the offshore ice to drop their pots, but much of the ice around the Nome area has broken off, and there have been few deliveries this winter, said Tyler Rhodes, chief operating officer for Norton Sound Economic Development Corp.
Norton Sound Seafood Products, a subsidiary of NSEDC, processes the crab for sale in domestic and overseas markets.
NSSP also announced recently that it will be harvesting its Community Develop quota share during the summer rather than the winter season this year. The CDQ quota may be fished in winter or summer and NSSP elected to fish that quota in the summer season, Rhodes said.
