ICES Cooperative Research Report

ICES Cooperative Research Report Rapport des Recherches Collectives No. 277 September 2005 The intentional introduction of the marine red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus into the Southern Barents Sea Lis L. Jørgensen1, Igor Manushin2, Jan H. Sundet3, Sten-R. Birkely1 1 UNIVERSITY OF TROMSØ, NORWEGIAN COLLEGE OF FISHERY SCIENCE, DEPARTMENT OF AQUATIC BIOSCIENCES. N-9037 TROMSØ, NORWAY (MAIL: [email protected], [email protected]) 2 POLAR RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF MARINE FISHERIES AND OCEANOGRAPHY. 6 KNIPOVICH STREET, 183763 MURMANSK, RUSSIA (MAIL: [email protected]) 3 INSTITUTE OF MARINE RESEARCH, TROMSØ BRANCH, N-9291 TROMSØ, NORWAY (MAIL: [email protected]) International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Conseil International pour l’Exploration de la Mer H.C. Andersens Boulevard 44-46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark Telephone (+45) 33 38 67 00 Telefax (+45) 33 93 42 15 www.ices.dk [email protected] Recommended format for purposes of citation: ICES. 2005. The intentional introduction of the marine red king crab Paralithodes ca mtschati- cus into the Southern Barents Sea. ICES Cooperative Research Report No. 277. 18 pp. https://doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.5481 For permission to reproduce material from this publication, please apply to the General Secre- tary. The document is a report of an rExpe t Group under the auspices of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and does not necessarily represent the views of the Council. ISBN 87-7482-040-0 978-87-7482-359-9 ISSN 2707-7144 © 2005 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea ICES Cooperative Research Report, No. 277 | i Contents 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................2 2 Identification....................................................................................................................2 3 Biology in the native range..............................................................................................3 3.1 Some basic features .................................................................................................3 3.2 Seasonal migration ..................................................................................................4 3.3 Salinity and temperature..........................................................................................4 3.4 Life stages and habitat .............................................................................................5 3.5 Feeding activity .......................................................................................................5 4 Non-native distribution ...................................................................................................6 4.1 Date and mode of arrival .........................................................................................6 4.2 Natural history in receptor region............................................................................8 4.2.1 Larvae.........................................................................................................8 4.2.2 Adults..........................................................................................................8 4.2.3 Temperature................................................................................................9 4.2.4 Food............................................................................................................9 4.2.5 Feeding behaviour ....................................................................................10 4.3 Field assessments of environmental impacts .........................................................11 5 Fishery and management..............................................................................................12 5.1 Fishery ..................................................................................................................12 5.2 Bycatch and socio-economic effects......................................................................12 5.3 Management ..........................................................................................................13 5.4 The future ..............................................................................................................15 6 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................15 7 References ......................................................................................................................15 8 Suggestions for further reading....................................................................................18 ICES Cooperative Research Report, No. 277 | 1 Abstract The red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) was intentionally transferred from areas in the Northern Pacific Ocean to the Russian Barents Sea during the 1960s (1961–1969), to create a new and valuable commercial resource. A reproductive population in the receptor region was evident ten years later and from this time the species has continued to spread both north and east in the Barents Sea and southwards along the coast of Northern Norway. Ecological impacts upon the native fauna are investigated through, among others, analysis of the diet of the crab, as molluscs, echinoderms, polychaetes and crustaceans are frequently found as prey items. Problems following the invasion of the red king crab are displayed as bycatch of crabs in gill- net- and longline-fisheries. The crab is regarded as a commercial resource both in Russia and Norway. Management of the red king crab is undertaken as a joint stock between Norway and Russia through the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fishery Commission. 2 | ICES Cooperative Research Report, No. 277 1 Introduction The red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815) (Reptantia, Lithodidae) is native to the Okhotsk and Japan Sea, the Bering Sea, and the Northern Pacific Ocean. On the Asian side of the Pacific, crabs are found from Korea, along the eastern coast of Siberia and down the coasts of the Kamchatka peninsula. In the Northeast Pacific and Bering Sea the red king crabs are distributed throughout the Aleutian Island chain, north to Norton Sound, Alaska, and southeast to Great Bay in Vancouver Island, Canada (Figure 1). Russian scientists intentionally introduced larvae, juveniles, and adults of this species from the western Kam- chatka peninsula to the southern Russian Barents Sea over the period 1961–69. Ten years later, in the 1970s, a reproductive population of red king crabs had become established in the receptor region (Orlov and Ivanov, 1978). Its spreading from this location may have been due to both natural dispersal of larvae by coastal currents and by adult migration. This review de- scribes some of the current knowledge of the species in its home range and the introduced population. Norton Sound Bering Kamchatka Bristol Okhotsk Sea Sea Gulf of Alaska Bay Vancouver Aleutian Islands Island Japan Pacific Ocean Korea Sea Japan Figure 1. The native distribution of the red king crab (orange shading) along the coasts of Korea, Japan, Russia, Alaska, and Canada. 2 Identification King crabs are among the world’s largest arthropods, having a crab-like morphology and a strongly calcified exoskeleton (Cunningham et al., 1992). Furthermore, they have a fused head and thorax, an asymmetrical abdominal flap, one pair of chelipeds, three pairs of walking legs, and an array of antennae and mouth parts (mandibles, maxillae, and maxillipeds). Paralith- odes camtschaticus is one of several species of the genus present in the subarctic areas of the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea (Table 1). ICES Cooperative Research Report, No. 277 | 3 Table 1. Taxonomy of the crabs cited in the present paper. CLASS CRUSTACEA SUBCLASS Malacostraca ORDER Decapoda FAMILY Lithodidae GENUS Lithodes Paralithodes SPECIES Lithodes maja Paralithodes camtschaticus Paralithodes platypus Paralithodes brevipes Characteristics distinguishing the three species P. camtschaticus (red king crab), P. platypus (blue king crab), and P. brevipes (Hanasaki crab) include the shape and number of spines on the posterior and postero-lateral margins, the cardiac and branchial regions of the carapace, and the rostrum (Figure 2). Lithodes maja is morphologically similar to the King Crab group, but is distinguished from adult Paralithodes by the comparatively smaller body size and the bi-fid rostrum. It ranges from the Barents Sea southwards along the coast of Norway and Greenland and to the south coast of Ireland and England. rostrum rostrum cardiac and branchial regions P. brevipes P. platypus P. camtschaticus L. maja Hanasaki crab Blue king crab Red king crab - Figure 2. The carapace of four different Lithodidae crustaceans, where Paralithodes platypus (blue king crab) and P. brevipes (Hanasaki crab) inhabits the subarctic North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, while P. camtschaticus (red king crab), in addition, is recorded in the Barents Sea (L. maja ranges: see above). 3 Biology in the native range 3.1 Some basic features Based on the three largest, reproductively independent, and most productive populations in West Kamchatka, West Okhotsk Sea, and Bristol Bay, Rodin (1989) defined some basic factors. These factors include the complex of biological, geographical, and oceanographic features of the habitat of these crabs. The larvae of the red king crab develop in the coastal zone. After hatching into a brief prozoea stage lasting only a couple of minutes,

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