The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the Cook Inlet and North Gulf Coast sport and subsistence Tanner crab fisheries season, gear, and limits for the 2022-2023 season. The “limited” Tanner crab fisheries will be open through February 28, 2023, with a bag and possession limit of three legal male Tanner crab per person, an annual limit of 20, and gear limited to one pot or ring net per vessel.
The “limited” Tanner crab fishery provides harvest opportunity in years that the ADF&G trawl survey was not conducted, or if the abundance estimate of legal Tanner crab from the survey is less than the threshold for the larger standard fishery. No trawl survey was conducted in 2022 due to a lack of funding.
“The limited fishery is structured to ensure that the harvest remains at less than 10% of the most recent legal male Tanner crab abundance,” said Assistant Area Management Biologist Holly Dickson. “We really appreciate permit holders’ efforts in recent years to report their harvest to help us monitor the fishery.”
A Cook Inlet-North Gulf Coast Tanner Crab sport or subsistence permit is required to participate in these fisheries. Permits are now available online through the ADF&G store located under the “Fishing & Shellfish Permits” tab. Individuals are encouraged to obtain only the sport or the subsistence permit, not both. ADF&G states that there is no benefit to having both permits because you may not retain two bag limits. The sport permit allows an individual to fish in all Cook Inlet and North Gulf Coast salt waters, while the area in which a subsistence permit can be fished is more restricted.
Each permit holder is responsible for reporting online by March 15, 2023, even if the permit holder did not fish. Individuals who fail to report online by March 15, 2023, WILL NOT be eligible for a permit the following year.
Photo credits – courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game