Fisheries Board and Alaska Department of 

 Fisheries, 1955: p. 34-43) and Hayes (in 

 press). 



The tags were recovered from the com- 

 mercial fishery. In some instances process- 

 ors held the whole tagged crab in their 

 freezers until a biologist could take the 

 necessary measurements, but more often only 

 the tag was returned — usually by mail. 



Before discussing results, two major sources 

 of bias should be recognized: the nature of the 

 fishery in the area and the lack of personal 

 contact by biologists with fishermen during 

 the tag return phase of the study. 



In general the fishery for king crabs in 

 the Shumagin Islands-False Pass area has 

 been pursued by salmon fishermen during 

 the fall, winter, and spring. Intensity and tim- 

 ing of the crab fishery depend on economic 

 conditions and especially on the income re- 

 ceived from salmon in the preceding season. 

 Although most boats are small and fish in 

 protected waters close inshore, in some years 



larger trawlers have fished areas offshore 

 for short periods. 



To obtain complete and reliable information 

 from tagging studies requires extensive per- 

 sonal contact with fishermen. Funds were 

 not available for this purpose during the tag 

 return phase of this study, and many of the 

 returns are incomplete. 



MOVEMENTS 



Of the 1,999 male king crabs tagged, 1,517 

 were caught in pots, 284 in shrimp trawls, and 

 198 in large-mesh otter trawls. Data are not 

 sufficient to determine if gear influenced the 

 rate of return of tagged king crabs. Through 

 August 15, 1962, tags from 277 (13.8 percent 

 of those released) crabs were returned, in- 

 cluding 232 with the location of recovery and 

 65 with measurement data. * Table 1 lists the 

 number of tags returned each year. April 1 

 was chosen as the beginning of the year 

 because this date is considered to approxi- 

 mate the time of molt (beginning of growth 

 year). 



Table 1 . --Number of tags returned between Sept. 1, 1959, and Aug, 15,1962, 

 from crabs tagged near Shumagin Islands in 1957 



Time period 



Molt anniversaries 

 after tagging 



Tags returned 



Sept. 

 April 

 April 

 April 

 April 

 April 

 Unknown 



1957i^-March 31, 1958 

 1958-March 31, 1959 

 1959-March 31, I960 

 1960-March 31, 1961 

 1961 -March 31, 1962 

 1962-Aug. 15, 1962 



\ umber 

 



1 



2 

 3 



4 

 5 



Number 

 72 

 87 

 33 



5 



9 



1 

 70 



1/ 



_' September 1 date is arbitrary, since the crabs were tagged 

 between July 21 and October 1, 1957. 



The location of tagging and recovery 

 sites or tags returned from south of 

 the peninsula are presented diagrammati- 

 cally in figure 2. The distance between 

 the locations of the easternmost and 

 westernmost tag returns is about 150 

 miles. 



No recoveries were made from the U.S. or 

 the Japanese fishery in the Bering Sea. 



'Three additional tags were returned between August 

 15, 1962, and February 1, 1963, The tags had been retained 

 by the crabs for more than 6 years through 5 molt sea- 

 sons. Movements were similar to those reported in this 

 paper. Growth measurements were not obtained. 



