Tanner crab fishing stays closed around Kodiak, Chignik and South Peninsula in 2027

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will keep commercial Tanner crab fishing closed in the Kodiak, Chignik and South Peninsula districts in 2027, the second straight year without a season in any of them.

The department announced the closures Nov. 2, saying its 2026 surveys found too few crab to support the minimum harvest state regulations require. The season would have opened Jan. 15.

Tanner crab, a close relative of snow crab, are fished in winter in these Gulf of Alaska districts. To open an area, the department needs two things: enough mature male crab to meet a set threshold, and enough crab beyond that to allow a minimum catch of 100,000 pounds per section around Kodiak, or 200,000 pounds in Chignik and each South Peninsula section.

Most of the closed waters passed the first test and failed the second. Around Kodiak, four of the six sections with thresholds had enough mature males, up from two in last year's survey, but none had enough to support a 100,000-pound catch. Chignik and the South Peninsula's Eastern Section also met their thresholds but fell short of the minimum. The South Peninsula's Western Section missed its threshold.

In 2023, when all three districts opened, the Kodiak District's Tanner crab harvest was about 5.9 million pounds, worth about $19.6 million to fishermen, according to the department's annual management report. Chignik and the South Peninsula together landed about 1.5 million pounds worth about $5 million.

Separately, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which recommends rules for fisheries in federal waters off Alaska, has been considering new protections for Tanner crab off Kodiak. In June, it sent the proposal back for more analysis and chose limits on non-pelagic trawl gear, which fishes on or near the seafloor, as its preliminary preferred option.