Snow Crab Swarm…pretty creepy
It’s an invasive species problem that Alaska would love to have. Millions of snow crab are on the march in the Barents Sea, and no one knows how they got there or what to do with them — yet. The Barents Sea, which straddles Norway and Russia, is the same source of all of that jumbo king crab, much of it caught illegally, that wreaked havoc on Alaska’s market for the past couple of years. But unlike king crabs, which were purposely introduced by Russia into those waters in 1966, the opilio, or snow crab is a true invasive species. Longtime market analyst Ken Talley reports that no one is sure how the snow crab reached the Barents. The first sightings appeared in the Russian zone in 1996. “The most likely way, say scientists, is from ballast water in tankers that ply the waters,” Talley wrote in his bi-monthly Seafood Trends newsletters. According to Jan Sundet, a leading Norwegian scientist and crab expert, the snow crab stock is estimated at 10 million to 12 million adults, similar to the abundance of the region’s king crab. No matter how they got there, the snow crab are spreading fast. “They are now routinely caught by Russian and Norwegian king crab fishermen,” Talley said. The Norwegians have no interest in such a fishery at this time, Talley added. Rather, they are worried about the environmental impacts of this invasive species on their traditional fisheries. By law, fishermen are forbidden from returning any snow crab back to the Barents Sea to keep them from spreading. The Russians appear more interested, Talley said. “Currently, there are no official discussions or negotiations between Russia and Norway about a snow crab fishery,” he added. Scientists are asking for government funding for research and stock assessments on the Barents Sea snow crab. When and if the situation clarifies, a commercial fishery will develop, Talley predicted. “The impact of a fishery with huge volumes of snow crab could roil the crab market just as Barents Sea red king crab has done,” he said. Alaska supplies about 10 percent to the U.S. snow crab market, which purchases roughly 100 million pounds per year. The bulk of the catch comes from Russia and eastern Canada.