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Findings from the 1991 Golden King Crab Survey in the Dutch Harbor

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Findings from the 1991 Golden King Crab Survey in the Dutch Harbor FINDINGS FROM THE 1991 GOLDEN KING CRAB SURVEY IN THE DUTCHHARBORANDADAKMANAGEMENTAREAS INCLUDING ANALYSIS OF RECOVERED TAGGED CRABS BY S. Forrest Blau and Douglas Pengilly Regional Information ~e~ort'No. 4K94-3 5 Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commercial Fisheries Management and Development Division 21 1 Mission Road Kodiak, Alaska 996 15 October 1994 %he Regional Information Report Series was established in 1987 to provide an information access system for all unpublished division reports. These reports frequently serve diverse ad hoc informational purposes or archive basic uninterpreted data. To accommodate timely reporting of recently collected information, reports in this series undergo only limited internal review and may contain preliminary data; this information may be subsequently finalized and published in the formal literature. Consequently, these reports should not be cited without prior approval of the author or the Division of Commercial Fisheries. AUTHORS S. Forrest Blau is a fishery biologist specializing in king crab research and Douglas Pengilly is a Westward regional biometrician. Both authors work for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Commercial Fisheries Management and Development Division, 2 1 1 Mission Road, Kodiak, Alaska 996 15. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) technicians Kathy Hobart, Tarnela Anderson, and Gilbert Marick all contributed to the success of the survey recording by hand the biological and tagging data and entering it on a computer while onboard the survey vessel. B. Alan Johnson, former ADF&G biometrician, assisted in formulating the objectives and methods analysis sections of the project operational plan (Blau 1992). Jan Jastad, owner and skipper of the FV Western Viking did a fine job of running his vessel and crew and recording the location and times where pots were set and retrieved for each longline station. Crewmen Rob Wilkenson and Fred Mina did an outstanding job setting and retrieving the gear; we also thank Lorie Moore for cooking onboard during the charter. Dutch Harbor ADF&G staff deserve recognition particularly Dean Beers and Donn Tracy for their help in collecting tags from golden king crabs and coordinating the Mandatory Shellfish Observer Program. Several Kodiak ADF&G staff members contributed to the production report. We acknowledge Jim Blackburn for database management of survey and tag return information and ad hoc assistance in data editing and production of data outputs. Susan Byersdorfer assisted in data entry and creation of some figures and tables. Special thanks to Leslie Watson, project leader for the Bering Sea Crab Test Fish Program through which the funds and contract for the FV Western Viking were obtained. Thanks to Sharon Theis for her assistance in typing portions of the manuscript and Lucinda Nee1 for document formatting. PROJECT SPONSORSHIP Funding to carry out this research and produce this report came from three sources. The Bering Sea Crab Test Fish Project allowed the capture and sale of red king crabs from Bristol Bay by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) to provide money for the charter vessel, equipment, staff time, and tag rewards. Additional ADF&G staff funding was provided through ADF&GYsCommercial Fisheries Management and Development Division. A portion of the tag recovery data was provided by mandatory observers on catcher processors, who were paid indirectly by the owners of those processors. TABLE OF CONTENTS LISTOFTABLES .............................................. i ... LISTOFFIGURES ............................................. 111 LISTOFAPPENDICES .......................................... ix INTRODUCTION .............................................. 1 Survey Goals and Objectives ................................... 2 METHODS ................................................... 2 Study Site and Sampling Design ................................. 2 Collection Methods ...................................... 3 Electronic Data Entry and Editing ............................ 5 Female Size at Maturity ................................... 5 Crab and Depth Categories ................................. 6 Sublegal and Legal Male Size Overlap ......................... 6 Male Merus Length vs . Legal Size ............................ 6 RESULTS .................................................... 7 Carapace Length and Carapace Width Relationships .................... 8 Sublegal .Legal Size Overlap ................................... 9 Legal Size at Merus Length .................................... 9 Effort and Catch of Golden King Crabs by Management Area and Depth ..... 9 Size at Maturity ............................................ 11 Females .............................................. 11 Males ................................................ 11 Tagging and Tag Returns ...................................... 12 Effects of Tagging ....................................... 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont.) Number of Crabs Tagged .................................. 12 Tags Recovered ......................................... 12 Growth ................................................ 12 NetMovement ......................................... 13 Shell Ages of Tagged Crabs ................................ 14 Adult Female Reproductive Condition ............................. 14 Leatherbacks .............................................. 15 Parasitic Barnacle and Rust Disease ............................... 15 Miscellaneous Crab Species .................................... 15 Miscellaneous Fish and Invertebrates .............................. 15 Ocean Temperatures ..... DISCUSSION .................................................. 16 LITERATURE CITED .......................................... TABLES .................................................... 25 APPENDIX ................................................... 86 LIST OF TABLES 1. Station locations and number of golden king crabs Lithodes aequispina caught on the 1991 Alaska Department of Fish and Game survey conducted in,the Dutch Harbor and Adak management Areas, Alaska ......................... 2. Size overlap of sublegal and legal maie golden king crabs from the 1991 survey conducted in the Adak and Dutch Harbor Management Areas by the Alaska Depart- ment of Fish and Game ....................................... 3. Classification of golden king crab exoskeletons found in the Dutch Harbor Management Area (stations 1-26) and the Adak Management Area (stations 27-60) during the 1991 golden king crab survey conducted by the Alaska Department of FishandGarne ............................................. 4. Parameter estimates for logistic regression of legal status of merus length for golden king crabs and estimates of merus length for which these crabs have 5% and % probabilities of being legal .......................... 5. Catches of golden king crabs by depth ranges in the Dutch Harbor Management Area (stations 1-26) and the Adak Management Area (stations 27-60) during the 1991 golden king crab survey conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game ................................................... 6. Parameter estimates for logistic regression of female golden king crabs maturity on size and estimates of size at 50% mature (SM50) ............. 7. Number of golden king crabs tagged on the 1991 survey by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in portions of the Dutch Harbor and Adak Managementheas .......................................... 8. Recoveries of tagged male golden king crabs in the Dutch Harbor (0) and Adak (R) management areas during the 1991 and 1992 commercial seasons grouped by their size and area that they were released in on the 1991 golden king crab survey in the Aleutian Islands by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game .... 9. Frequency of carapace length at recovery minus length at release for 105 male golden king crabs having both measurements ..................... 10. Distance traveled by male golden king crabs tagged on the 1991 golden king crab survey in the Aleutian islands by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and subsequently recovered during the 1991 and 1992 commercial seasons in the Dutch Harbor (0)and Adak (R) Management Areas .................... LIST OF TABLES (Cont.) Table Page 11. Comparison of exoskeletal classification on tagged golden king crabs on the 1991 survey by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in portions of the Dutch Harbor and Adak Management Areas and the recovery of those crabs in the 199 1/92 and 1992193 commercial fisheries .......................... 37 12. Reproductive condition of 3,174 adult female golden king crabs found on the 1991 survey in a portion of the Dutch Harbor and Adak Management Areas by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game .............................. 38 13. Depth, size, and exoskeleton ages of "leatherback" male golden king crabs from stations 25-60 on the 1991 golden king crab survey conducted in a portion of the Dutch Harbor and Adak Management Areas by the Alaska Department of Fish andGame ................................................ 39 14. Infestation of the parasitic barnacle Briarosaccus callosus and the incidence of rust disease on golden king crabs found on the 1991 golden king crab survey in the Aleutian Islands by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game ......... 40 15. Catch and biological data of deep sea crabs Lithodes couesi and Chionoecetes tanneri caught on the 1991 golden king crab survey conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in portions
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