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"It is clear that almost 30 million pounds of processed crab would not be available on the world market, were it not for illegal fishing in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea," said Arni Thomson, executive director of the Alaska Crab Coalition, in Seattle. "We estimate that bulk of that comes into the United States."
Thomson, market analyst John Sackton and Steve Minor, chairman of the Pacific Northwest Crab Industry Advisory Committee, issued a joint statement Aug. 31, protesting the illegal imports. Millions of pounds of legally harvested Russian king crab are also imported into domestic markets, offering stiff competition to crab harvested in Alaska waters.
Their protest comes as the Alaska crab industry is starting to gear up for the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery, which opens Oct. 15.
Russian fisheries officials estimate the poaching rate topped 44 million pounds of king crab during the past year, two times the legal catch quota, Thomson said.
A similar illegal catch is projected for 2007 and 2008, he said.
The Barents Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean located north of Norway and Russia, is the site of the world's largest new crab boom. Both countries have been conducting legal fisheries there for less than five years. King crab was transplanted to the Barents Sea by Russians about 60 years ago, and today, the largely untapped resource is estimated at 12 million king crab and growing, Thomson said.
The Russians want cash, and they want it fast, Thomson said. "The crab is sold as quickly as it is produced, in huge quantities and at very low prices. To make matters worse, the Russian crab is widely marketed as Alaska king crab," Thomson said.
Norwegian fishermen legally harvested about 2 million pounds of king crab quota last year, compared with the Russian quota of 3 million pounds, Thomson said.
According to market analyst Sackton, there is no doubt that the illegal tonnage is displacing markets and driving down the price of Alaska crab. "It' is a serious problem," Sackton said.
"The U.S. king crab supply has increased by about 60 percent, due to the Barents Sea production. As a result, market prices could be 15 to 25 percent lower for the Bering Sea industry this year," he said.
The Alaska Crab Coalition is working with federal lawmakers to put an end to the crab poaching situation, Thomson said. Importation of illegally harvested Russian crab is prohibited under the Lacey Act. Mislabeling of crab also may violate laws that apply to deceptive marketing practices.
Minor, who chairs the Pacific Northwest Crab Industry Advisory Committee, said consumers nationwide are waking up to the need to recognize and support sustainable fisheries and to avoid products from countries that allow overfishing.
The Bering Sea crab industry also is supporting plans by Norwegian and other European authorities to have all fish products go through customs clearance at approved ports, instead of being exported directly from fishing grounds. The Alaska Crab Coalition also has recommended mandatory satellite tracking on Russian crab vessels and development of a system for tracing landings. Crab are currently exempt from the federal Country of Original Label (COOL) regulations.
Earlier in August, Thomson met with Norwegian officials in Tromso, Norway, to discuss declining world markets for king crab and the economic impact of illegal fishing in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea.
"It is time for the Bering Sea crab industry to join the international initiative for a crackdown on illegal fishing of king crab," Thomson said. "The industry needs to take these steps if we are to pull ourselves out of the quagmire of depressed market prices," he said.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at
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