Author: Wyatt J. Rhea-Fournier

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

A bottom trawl survey was conducted in 2018 and 2019 to estimate density and infer abundance of Tanner crab Chionoecetes bairdi in Kachemak Bay. The survey was conducted aboard the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) research vessel Pandalus using a 400-mesh Eastern otter trawl (large-mesh trawl). In 2018, the survey caught 12,568 male Tanner crab of which 348 were of legal size, ≥114mm (4.5 in), to produce a mean catch per unit effort (CPUE) of 18.06 legal-size crab/nmi and yielded an abundance estimate of 222,852 legal-size crab. In 2019, the survey caught 1,682 male Tanner crab of which 421 were of legal size to produce a mean CPUE of 22.17 legal-size crab/nmi and yielded an abundance estimate of 273,511 legal-size crab. The 2017, 2018, and 2019 survey results produced a 3-year mean of 207,109 legal-size male crab which allowed the standard noncommercial fisheries to occur for the 2019–2020 season. In 2018, the survey caught 4,193 female Tanner crab of which 1,566 were mature to produce a mean CPUE of 82.25 mature female crab/nmi and yielded an abundance estimate of 1,014,869 mature female crab. In 2019, the survey caught 2,660 female Tanner crab of which 2,295 were mature to produce a mean CPUE of 120.66 mature female crab/nmi and yielded an abundance estimate of 1,488,880 mature female crab. Abundance estimates of legal-size male Tanner crab were slightly above the long-term mean, and mature female Tanner crab were substantially above the long-term mean of the survey time series.