Norton Sound summer crab harvest reaches 111% of quota

Norton Sound's summer red king crab fishery brought in $3.5 million this year, with crabbers landing 297,072 pounds — 11 percent over the summer quota — the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported Tuesday.

The 10-day season, June 15 to 25, drew 31 boats. The crab ran big: an average of 3.7 pounds apiece, a record for the summer fishery, selling for $11.80 a pound. Open-access boats alone landed 287,002 pounds, blowing past their target by a quarter.

The winter fishery, by contrast, was lean — 17,697 pounds, just over three-quarters of its quota, worth about $206,000. Crabbers lost 56 pots to the ice.

But the bigger picture is a shrinking resource. This year's harvest limit was set at 268,000 pounds, down 65 percent from 2025's 410,000, reflecting a smaller estimated crab population. The Seward Peninsula Regional Advisory Council has said the current management isn't meeting local subsistence needs.