Profile updated on 2 December 2022

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

IDENTIFICATION

SCIENTIFIC NAME(s)

Chionoecetes opilio

SPECIES NAME(s)

Queen crab, snow crab

Queen crabs (more commonly known as snow crab) are distributed widely across subpolar and Arctic regions. In Alaska, queen crabs comprise a panmictic (randomly breeding) population that spans the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas (Albrecht et al. 2014). Alaska's eastern Bering Sea population, at the southern extent of the species range (Fedewa et al. 2020), is assessed and managed as a single stock, though its distribution may extend into Russian waters (Szuwalski 2021).


ANALYSIS

Strengths
  • Catch quotas (TALs) for queen crab are precautionary and based on scientific evidence and uncertainty, with the TAL generally set significantly below the ABC (National Marine Fisheries Service 2021).

SCORES

Management Quality:

Management Strategy:

7.1

Managers Compliance:

10.0

Fishers Compliance:

10.0