102 
Fishery Bulletin 112(2-3) 
This study took place in Womens Bay, which is lo- 
cated in the Gulf of Alaska near the city of Kodiak on 
Kodiak Island, Alaska, and is a popular site for com- 
mercial, sport, and subsistence fishing for a variety of 
finfish and shellfish species (Fig. 1). Red king crab was 
the major fishery species in the Gulf of Alaska during 
the 1960s, but populations of this crab crashed in the 
1970s and 80s. The commercial fishery was closed in 
1983 and has not been reopened (Orensanz et al., 1998). 
Since that time, red king crab has been harvested in 
this region only in a subsistence fishery for which the 
catch limit has been 3 crabs per household per year. 
In this fishery, only male crabs with a carapace width 
>178 mm (or -154 mm carapace length [CL]) may be 
taken legally (Orensanz et al., 1998). Crab pots or traps 
are used to capture red king crabs in this subsistence 
fishery. Harvest information has been available since 
1995 for the Chiniak Bay area, which covers 321.0 km 2 
and includes Womens Bay. With an area of 8.5 km 2 , 
Womens Bay represents only about 2.5% of Chiniak 
Bay (Fig. 1). Harvest levels in Chiniak Bay from 1995 
to 2012 ranged from 10 to 1178 crabs per year (me- 
dian=66 crabs per year) (ADFG) 1 (Fig 2), which would 
indicate a low exploitation rate. 
The population of red king crab in Womens Bay is 
not surveyed discretely, and no direct estimate of this 
population is available. However, the Kodiak district as 
a whole is surveyed by the Alaska Department of Fish 
and Game during its westward region trawl survey, 
when data are collected for estimates of the population 
size of red king crab and southern Tanner crab ( Chion - 
oecetes bairdi ) in the northeast section of the Kodiak 
district, which includes Womens Bay (Fig. 1). For that 
survey -90 tows are conducted, each 1.85 km long, in 
the northeast section of the Kodiak district with a 400- 
mesh eastern otter trawl constructed of 8.9-cm mesh 
in the body and 3.2-cm mesh in the codend to estimate 
population size by using the area-swept, method (for 
complete survey methods and design, see Spalinger 2 ). 
Over the period of 1991-2012, estimates of the size 
of the population of red king crab in the northeast sec- 
tion have been low, ranging from about 160,000 to 0 
(median=9500 crabs) (Fig. 2); these estimates are not 
precise because red king crabs typically are caught 
only at a few stations (Spalinger 2 ). Our study area in 
Womens Bay accounts for <1% of the northeast section, 
a total area of 1978.5 km 2 ; therefore, the population in 
Womens Bay is likely a small proportion of the popula- 
tion estimated for this region. 
1 ADFG (Alaska Department of Fish and Game). 2012. Ko- 
diak shellfish subsistence database. [Data available upon 
request from ADFG, 351 Research Ct, Kodiak, AK 99615- 
7400.] 
2 Spalinger, K. 2009. Bottom trawl survey of crab and 
groundfish: Kodiak, Chignik, South Peninsula, and Eastern 
Aleutians Management Districts, 2008. Fishery Manage- 
ment Report 9-25, 121 p. Alaska Department of Fish and 
Game, Anchorage, AK. 
Materials and methods 
Our study is based on a 17-year data set, from 1991 to 
2008, of tracking red king crab in Womens Bay with 
acoustic tags. Crabs were tracked during other projects 
where behavior and habitat use by red king crab were 
examined (Dew et al., 1992; Dew and McConnaughey, 
2005; Dew, 2010) and were found primarily in pods, 
which are aggregations of crabs (Dew, 1990). Red king 
crabs (identified per Donaldson and Byersdorfer, 2005) 
were captured by divers throughout Womens Bay, and 
acoustic tags (Sonotronics; Tucson, AZ 3 ) were affixed to 
each crab’s carapace with marine grade epoxy. Only ac- 
tive, healthy-looking crabs were used, and crabs typi- 
cally were new-shell ( i.e. , they had recently molted). 
Crabs were released from the surface at the same 
location where they were captured (Fig. 1). Tags emit- 
ted unique acoustic sequences, allowing for the iden- 
tification and tracking of individual crabs, and track- 
ing was performed from the surface with a Sonotron- 
ics USR-4D surface acoustic receiver deployed from a 
boat. Each time a crab was located, the position of the 
vessel at the sea surface above the crab was recorded 
with a GPS unit. Accuracy of the boat’s location in re- 
lation to the crab’s location was generally about 40 m 
and was dependent on depth and weather. Crabs also 
were tracked with a Datasonics DPL-275A, underwater 
acoustic dive receiver (Teledyne Benthos, North Fal- 
mouth, MA), which allows divers to use acoustic sig- 
nals to locate tags in situ. Crabs were located on the 
seafloor by scuba divers, and data were collected on the 
behavior and habitat of all live, tagged crabs, and any 
closely aggregated crabs; data included whether crabs 
were trapped alive in ghostfishing gear. 
We classified the final condition of all crabs that had 
been tagged, including crabs no longer attached to their 
tag, and recorded the status of unrecovered tags in the 
following manner. When a tag was found on a complete, 
newly shed carapace, the final condition of the crab was 
classified as “molted.” When a tag was found attached 
to a dead or partially eaten crab, final condition of the 
crab was classified as “dead.” When the condition of the 
crab could not be determined with any confidence, its 
condition was classified as “unknown.” Tags that could 
not be located from the surface were recorded as “lost,” 
indicating either that the tag had run out of power or 
had malfunctioned or that the crab had moved into an 
area where it could not be tracked. Because we tracked 
all tagged crabs until they died, molted, or became lost, 
no tagged crabs had their final condition classified as 
live (see the last paragraph of this section). When a 
crab was classified as dead, the cause of death was 
ascertained when possible. Ghostfishing-induced mor- 
tality (hereafter termed “ghostfishing mortality”) was 
recorded when that crab was found dead in ghost- 
3 Mention of trade names or commercial companies is for iden- 
tification purposes only and does not imply endorsement by 
the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
