Joe Viechnicki

PETERSBURG, AK (2010-02-02) The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the commercial crab fleet are trying out some different approaches to estimating the amount of red king crab in Southeast. The effort was prompted by crabbers who say the department’s current stock survey under-estimates crab abundance. The fishery has remained closed for the last four years because of low survey numbers. The department tried out two new survey methods last fall and presented the results of that pilot project to crabbers late last month.