Joint report for 2000 on the red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) investigations in the Barents Sea

Sammendrag

The present mean estimates of legal males above 150 mm CW in REZ and NEZ are 1 513 000 and 676 000 respectively. Estimates of total stock with CL > 60 mm in REZ are 12 546 000. There are no such estimates in NEZ. In NEZ the relative abundance of pre-recruits (115 mm< CL <132 mm) has increased from 6.5 % in 1999 to ca 25 % in 2000, indicating good recruitment to legal size stock within the next couple of years. The stock estimate of egg-carrying females in 2000 was 1 576 490 in NEZ and 693 888 in REZ. The surveys in 2000 revealed only minor recruitment to the crab stock in the Barents Sea. Moulting frequency of pre-recruits in NEZ and in REZ are high in 2000: 83 % and 95.6%, respectively. There are no signs of any effects of the one sex harvest strategy on the sex ratio in the crab stock. The crabs in NEZ are still inhabiting new areas along the coast of Finnmark and new parts of the coast will soon be of interest for fishery. The crab density is increasing in eastward in REZ. The crabs in the NEZ show only minor migrations. In Varanger there is mainly a westwards migration. Bycatch of king crabs is a major problem in the gillnet and longline fishery in the eastern Finnmark. In 1999 ca 120000 crabs were estimated caught as bycatch in the gillnet fishery for cod alone in NEZ and 30 000 crabs in the trawl fishery for whitefish in REZ. Several regulations are given for commercial fishery conserning a possible opening of a aiming to improve the management of the king crab in the Barents Sea are proposed.