EASTERN BERING SEA KING CRAB FISHERY 



The Japanese eastern Bering Sea king crab fishery 

 (fig. 6), which began in 1930,' was the first fishery off 

 Alasica by an Asian nation. It was also one of Japan's 

 earliest distant-water fisheries. 



This fishery in prewar years took place in 1930 and in 



1932 through 1939. In its first year, the fishery involved 

 one factory ship and a small fleet of catcher vessels 

 which, with tangle nets, harvested about 1 million king 

 crabs. The fishery was resumed in 1932 and continued 

 through 1939. One factory ship fleet operated in each of 

 these years except in 1933-34, when there were two 

 fleets. The annual catch increased from about 1.3 

 million crabs in 1932 to slightly over 2 million crabs in 



1933 and then steadily declined to about 250,000 crabs 

 in 1939.^ 



The quota was increased to 59,850 cases in 1954-58, to 

 70,000 cases in 1959, and to 80,000 in 1960. The 

 annual catch varied from 1.1 to 1.6 million crabs in 

 1953-60. During these years, the fishery was from April 

 into July or August (International North Pacific 

 Fisheries Commission, 1953-60). 



The Japanese had what were termed spring and 

 autumn king crab fisheries in the eastern Bering Sea in 

 1961-62. The spring fishery was from April into July, 

 and the autumn fishery from August into November. 

 The two or three factory ship fleets in these fisheries 

 apparently did not fish an equal ratio of tangle net gear, 

 because the catch is not proportional to the number of 

 fleets (table 3) (International North Pacific Fisheries 

 Commission, 1961 and 1963a). 



Beginning in 1963, the king crab fishery in the 

 eastern Bering Sea changed to a single-season operation, 



Figure 6.— Japanese eastern Bering Sea king crab fishing areas. 



The Japanese eastern Bering Sea king crab fishery was 

 resumed in 1953, after a lapse of 13 years and involved 

 one factory ship fleet each year through 1961. In 

 1953-54, tangle nets and trawls were both used, but in 

 1955 trawling was discontinued and since then only 

 tangle nets have been used in this fishery. In 1953 the 

 Japanese Government set a quota of 58,240 cases (24 

 pounds per case) for the eastern Bering Sea crab fishery. 



Shippen, Herbert, and staff of king crab investigators, 1964. 



The fishery for king crabs in the eastern Bering Sea. Bur. 



Commer. Fish. Biol. Lab., 2725 Montlake Blvd. E., Seattle, 



Wash. 98102, manuscript, 50 pp. 

 2 

 See footnote 1. 



and canning became the sole method of processing. 

 From 1963 through 1966, two canning factory ships, 

 each accompanied by about five trawlers that set tangle 

 nets, engaged in this fishery. Fishing began in March and 

 ended between late August and early October in those 

 years. 



The Japanese Government established a combined 

 annual quota of 235,000 twenty-four-pound cases for 

 the two fleets in 1963 and 1964; the total catch was 

 about 5.5 million crabs in 1963 and 5.9 million crabs in 

 1964 (International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, 

 1964 and 1965a). 



The United States and Japan signed a 2-year 

 agreement in November 1964 whereby it was agreed that 

 to avoid possible overfishing of the king crab resource in 

 the eastern Bering Sea Japan would limit her annual 



