Commercial
fishing boats catch the king crab fished from Alaska’s cold waters.
These large boats utilize heavy equipment. The U.S. government regulates
the length of the king crab fishing season and it is very short to protect
the species from overfishing. Currently, the commercial king crab season
is only four days during the winter.
October and January are the prime months for fishing king crab in Alaska.
Due to the frigid waters and heavy equipment, the crew of a crab-fishing
vessel has very risky jobs. These crews are, in fact, among those with
the highest fatality rate on the job.
King crab continues to be a desirable delicacy. With the unexplained
population decrease a few years ago, government agencies now regulate
the fishing practices of king crab. The crabs are kept alive on the
boats and then they are extensively sorted once back to shore. Only
males of certain subspecies can be kept. The rest are returned to sea.