Various Methods and Gear Have
Been Used To Capture King Crab
How do you catch a King Crab?
The answer would vary depend
ing on whether you were asking
a Japanese. Russian or American
crab fisherman. With some excep
tions. one might say today that
Americans catch King Crabs with
pots. Japanese use tangle nets,
and Russians use trawls. Follow
ing is some pertinent information
obtained from the ADFG Special
King Crab Report dated April i,
1961:
Practically all the crab taken
by the Japanese are caught by
tangle nets. Trawlers are used
to locate the large bodies of crab,
after which catcher boats move in
and string out many miles of tan
gle nets. The tangle nets are
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picked up after three or four days
and taken to the factory ship,
where the crabs are removed, the
nets mended and hung to dry.
Tangle nets usually have a mesh
size of approximately eighteen
inches.
A tangle net resembles a large
mesh gill net. The lead line is
weighted to make the net ‘‘dive'’
or fish on the bottom. The corks
merely hold the net upright, so
that when the net is fishing it re
sembles a fence on the bottom.
Migrating or moving crabs become
entangled in the mesh when they
run into it; the fine netting catcn
ing on their spines and carapace
(shell) joints. Their strugggles
only serve to entanggle them fur
ther, and at times the small
thread used in the webbing cuts
them, so that they are dead before
eing handled.
Tangle nets were first used Dy
Americans in the Kodiak area in
1938 when the floater Tondeleyo
worked the Kodiak, Shumagin Is
lands and the Bering Sea areas.
They were employed again in the
Chiniak (Kodiak) Bay area in
1949 and were used until they
were prohibited on January 1,
1955. Tangle nets were popular
with American fishermen. The
regulations have never allowed
the taking of female crabs, and it
is very difficult to remove crabs
from tanggle nets without serious
ly damaging them. Morover, tan
gle net fishing, if done properly
to save small and female crabs,
is extremely slow and tedious.
Since it was impossible to carry
on an efficient tangle net fishery
without damaging great numbers
of females and undersized male
crabs, tangle nets were subse
quently prohibited.
Russia entered the crab business
in 1928 when two vessels put up
35,000 cases. By 1930 the Rus
sian fleet had expanded to ten
vessels with a pack of 73,000
cases. Most of the Russian ef
fort is a trawl fishery.
Trawls were first used in the
Kodiak area in 19-k». They were
not too successful, mainly because
the fishing was done at the time
of the year when the crabs were
spread rather thinly in the deeper
waters. They gained popularity
in 1952 when the fishermen be
gan to learn the seasonal migra
tion habits of crab, and were eager
to find a substitute for tangle
nets.
By 1953 small otter trawls were
the main type of gear used in tak
ing King Crabs They remained
the dominant gear in use until
1956.
Little change was made in basic
trawl design in the years they
were in use. Cod-end mesh size
was increased to 12 inches to keep
the nets from loading up with
trash and small fish, and also in
an attempt to let small males and
females through. The results
were somewhat indeterminate.
The early attempts to establisn
a crab industry were dependent
upon pots for the greatest part
of the!r catch. In 1938 the Tonde
leyo used pots, and the small
(Continued on Page 15)
A typical crab pot is hauled out for “Picking” — Photo by ADF&G
C ngratulations
TO
ALL THOSE THAT MAKE
THE
j
-
KING CRAB INDUSTRY POSSIBLE
Let’s All Make
The King Crab Festival A Success
Donnelley & Acheson