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Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

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The eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey has been conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering group on an annual basis since 1971. The purpose of this survey is to collect data on the distribution and abundance of crab and groundfish resources in the eastern Bering Sea. These data will be used to estimate population abundances for the management of commercially important species in the region. In 2007, 376 standard stations were surveyed and an additional 32 stations were resampled in Bristol Bay at the end of the standard survey due to the offset in timing of the survey and the reproductive maturity of the female red king crab. The point estimate of Bristol Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) legal-sized male abundance was 6% greater in 2007 than 2006, and exceeded the average of 9.6 million crab for the previous 20 years. The point estimate of Pribilof District blue king crab (P. platypus) legal-sized male abundance was 0.1 million crab, which was well below the average of 0.6 million for the previous 20 years. The point estimate of Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi) legal-sized male abundance was 12.1 million crab which is a decrease of 6% from 2006. The point estimate of the large male snow crab (C. opilio) abundance was 495.2 ± 134.8 million crab.