October 13, 2014 — The following was released by the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers:
Seattle, WA- Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers (ABSC) is pleased to announce the opening of the 2014-15 Bering Sea commercial king and tanner crab fisheries. The official opening of the season will be 12:00 noon on Wednesday October 15, 2014. The fishery will remain open through January 15, 2015 for Bristol Bay red king crab; February 1, 2015 for St. Matthew’s blue king crab; March 31, 2015 for Bering Sea Tanner crab; May 15, 2015 for Bering Sea snow crab in the Eastern sub-district; and, May 31, 2015 for Bering Sea snow crab in the Western sub-district.
The Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the various fisheries is listed below. Please note the IFQ refers to the Individual Fishery Quota issued to harvesters. The CDQ refers to Community Development Quota, a 10% allocation reserved for development projects in rural western Alaskan communities adjacent to the Bering Sea.