Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Type of Commercially Valuable King Crab

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In Alaska, three species of king crab are caught commercially: the red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus, found in Bristol Bay, Norton Sound, and the Kodiak Archipelago), blue king crab (Paralithodes platypus, St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands), and golden king crab (Lithodes aequispinus, Aleutian Islands).

The red king crab is the most prized of the three for its meat. A fourth variety of king crab, the scarlet king crab (Lithodes couesi), is too small and rare to be commercially viable, even though its meat is considered sweet and tasty.[3] Specific size requirements must be met: only certain types of king crab are legal at different times of the year and only males can be kept.

Source: Wikipedia

About Alaska Crab Fishing Jobs from Wikipedia

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Alaskan king crab fishing is carried out during the winter months in the waters off the coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The commercial harvest is performed during a very short season, and the catch is shipped worldwide. Large numbers of king crab are also caught in Russian and international waters.[1]

In 1980, at the peak of the king crab industry, some Alaskan fisheries produced up to 200 million pounds (90.9 million Kilos) of crab. However, by 1983, the total size of the catch had dropped almost sixtyfold. Several theories for the precipitous drop in the crab population have been proposed, including overfishing, warmer waters, and increased fish predation.[2] As a result the current season is very short. In the winter 2005–2006 season, 250 boats caught 14 million pounds (6.36 million kilos) of red king crab in four days.[3]

Alaskan crab fishing is very dangerous, and the fatality rate among the fishermen is about 90 times the fatality rate of the average worker.

Source: Wikipedia