There was quite a bit of talk about the new Barents Sea snow crab resource at the Boston Seafood Show.
There are two catcher processors currently being outfitted in the Netherlands that should be fishing on this stock within six weeks or so.
However, it is too soon to expect much information. However some US buyers have seen this crab from the little bit that was landed in 2013.
What we do know is that the crabs are running large - almost all are above the 3L size (10-12 oz sections), with some as large as 7L, and that the extent of the resource is not well known.
Snow crab does well on a muddy bottom, while king crab prefers a hard bottom. There is a huge expanse of suitable bottom for snow crab in the Barents Sea, and if survey projections are born out, this could become a much bigger resource.
Writing in the Barents Observer, Dr. Carsten Hvingel, Head of the Research Group Benthic Resources and Processes at the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, said that model simulations indicate potential annual catches will reach 25,000 to 75,000 tons with the next ten years, but ‘likely even more if the stock continues to grow.’
Hyingel and Jan H Sundet, also at the Marine Institute, say they are not at this point in a position to carry out a full quantitative stock assessment like the ones provided for the other major fishery resources in the Barents Sea. The data is still too sparse.
However, alternative models including information from other fisheries such as in Canada might allow us to look at different scenarios of possible stock developments and provide estimates of potential future catch.
“If we assume that the Snow crab has habitat requirements in the Barents Sea similar to those it has in the Western Atlantic, the Barents Sea catch potential might be between 50,000 and 170,000 tons annually. At a price of around US$6.00 a kilogram we are looking at firsthand values of $300 million to $1 billion USD - of the same order as the value of the entire Norwegian landings of cod.
They also say the uncertainties in the estimation of future catch potential are large.
“Everything does, however, point to Snow crabs becoming a major fishery resource in the Barents Sea.”
The fishery has already started. In 2013 three Norwegian vessels and one Spanish vessel fished in the Central Barents Sea, and reported good catch rates.
Additional vessels are expected to fish in 2014, on both the Russian and Norwegian zones. Also in 2014, Russia and Norway will attempt to put together some preliminary management plan and harvest strategy.
The projection of a 25,000 to 75,000 tons fishery made by these scientists is contingent on an optimal harvest plan being put in place.
