No Alaskan King Crab for the holidays

The Alaskan King Crab season has been cancelled this year. 

Concerns over the health of the stock has led regulators to order a closure of the fishery for this season and some to doubt that King Crab fishing will return to Alaska any time soon.

King Crab is the ultimate luxury shellfish. These crabs live only in the extreme northern Pacific in frigid waters off the coast of Alaska and stretching toward Russia. While there has been strict management of the US fishery for years, the US market has been flooded with imported crab that many suspect has been caught illegally and sold as Alaskan King Crab. To combat this, and similar abuses, the US government signed legislation requiring all Alaskan King Crab to be 100% traceable back to the vessel that caught it, a move that has further tightened the supply of legitimate sources. 

The name Alaskan King Crab indicates both a species and a commitment to resource management and worker safety.  

This leaves Russia as the only source for King Crab this holiday season. At HOOKED, we have concerns over the generally poor record of compliance that Russian fleets have shown over time as well as the recent “auction” of Russian crab quota that has concentrated fishing rights into the hands of a few politically connected companies.

In the end, we have made a decision to NOT offer King Crab this year, but rather to work closely with smaller Canadian suppliers like Fogo Island Fish Co. and support a healthy well managed Canadian Snow Crab fishery.

Further reading :
$2.2 Billion USD Russian Crab Auction 
2021 Alaskan King Crab season cancelled