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Alaska Comm Fish General Info



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Overview

Alaska's commercial fisheries produce large volumes of shellfish, including several types of crab and various shrimp. Commercial fishermen also harvest scallops, clams, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, octopus, and squid, and these species are defined as "miscellaneous shellfish" in state regulations. All commercial shellfish fisheries in state and federal waters of Alaska are managed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Alaska is famous for its king crab, which includes 4 species in Alaska: red, blue, golden, and scarlet. Red king crab are the predominant king crab in commercial harvests, with the largest harvests coming from Bristol Bay and smaller harvests coming from Southeast Alaska, Norton Sound, and the Adak area. Historically, very large harvests came from the Kodiak area, but that fishery has failed to recover since being closed in 1983. Several other once important king crab fishing grounds are also now closed due to conservation concerns. Other commercially important crabs include golden king crabs, Tanner crabs, snow crabs, and Dungeness crabs.

Trawl caught shrimp were a major component of shellfish harvests in the Gulf of Alaska through the early 1980s. The primarily Kodiak-based fishery declined following a climate-induced regime shift accompanied by an increase in Pacific cod, a major shrimp predator. Small trawl fisheries continue in Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound and the Kodiak area, and a large pot fishery for the spot prawns occurs in southeast Alaska.

Weathervane scallops, the world's largest commercial species, are dredged by a small fleet working historic beds from the Eastern Gulf of Alaska near Yakutat to the Bering Sea. Commercial clam fisheries in Alaska include a dive fishery for Geoduck clams in Southeast Alaska and intertidal fisheries for hard shell clams, principally littleneck clams and razor clams in Cook Inlet. Dive fisheries for sea cucumbers and red sea urchins have been important in providing winter-time economic opportunities in Southeast Alaska. A once productive abalone fishery in Southeast Alaska has been closed since 1996 due to low stock size.

Commercial harvests of octopus and squid occur in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, primarily as bycatch in other fisheries.

[Based on excerpts from the publication, Commercial Fisheries in Alaska, Woodby et al. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Special Publication 05-09, June 2005 (PDF - 1,059K). Information or data on this web page may have been updated and may no longer match the original publication.]

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