Opilio Season & all the Ice

 It’s hard to think of Opilio season and crab fishing in January, without also thinking of the cold weather, the wind, and the dreaded ice on the Bering sea.  And when we’re speaking of the Bering sea and the arctic as well, ice isn’t just ice. It’s much much more.  Out there, ice comes in different shapes and appearances and therefore, has many different names.  So how well do you know your ice, then?
(above is grease and small pancake ice)

From the Weather Factory: Sea ice forms from frozen seawater, as its name suggests, not compacted snow. Sea ice is dynamic: Like a plant or animal, it grows in stages, with different names for different stages. (photo above is small pancake ice).It changes with the seasons.  And it is almost always on the move, impelled by currents and winds.
     Sea ice forms when the temperature of the ocean surface falls below 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike the calm surface of a lake, where ice forms in a gradually thickening sheet, the ocean surface is frequently stirred by waves. This leads to some interesting forms of ice…
(Image above is medium pancake ice)

Prior to ice being visible in the sea, the water thickens with loose ice crystals that don’t stick together because of the wind and movement of the water.  It’s known as grease ice.  But there’s other terms describing the same consistency of ice and water–Frazil, lolly ice, and slush. (At right is large pancake ice). Once the crystals start bonding and forming a shape, the ice forms pancakes, or pancake ice, a familiar term from having watched season 3 of “Deadliest Catch”.  But pancake ice has stages:  small, medium, and large pancake ice.

In the coldest part of winter, large pancake ice comes together and forms pack ice which is a thick crust of ice that covers much of the arctic. (to the left is image of pack ice)  Pack ice is both formed at sea and locked to the shore.  If the seas are very calm as the ice forms, the pack ice may be very flat but more often, it’s covered with very rough cut areas of ice caused by movement.  But it shouldn’t be confused with ice floes.  Pack ice may move with the movement of the water but it’s not free-floating chunks of ice.

So when Edgar Hansen and Matt Bradley of the F/V Northwestern took a little fieldtrip out on the sea ice to make snow angels, in season 3, what type of Bering sea ice do you think they were walking on? (Photo courtesy of Photo courtesy of Northwestern Brothers Marketing, LLC. www.fvnorthwestern.com)

Ice images courtesy of the Virgina Institute of Marine Science
Check out the rest of their ice photos

Crab Quota up, Russian busts may boost Alaska Market

Article reprinted with written permission of Margaret Bauman of the AlaskaJournal of Commerce.

By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Jose Garcia sorts golden king crab in March on the Alaska Glacier Seafood dock in Auke Bay in Juneau. Crab quotas are up for the coming season. AP Photo/Brian Wallace

   

It’s still anyone’s guess what this season’s prices will be on wild Alaska Bering Sea king, snow and tanner crab. But the good news is there will be plenty to go around.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game on Sept. 28 set the harvest levels for the three fisheries at 20.3 million pounds of king crab, 63 million pounds of snow, or opilio, crab, and 5.6 million pounds of tanner, or bairdi, crab.

The quota for the Bering Sea red king crab fishery is up from 15.5 million pounds a year ago. The king crab fishery gets under way Oct. 15 and runs through Jan. 18.

The allowable snow crab harvest of 63 million pounds is nearly double the harvest guideline for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. The tanner crab harvest, which is divided between the eastern and western Bering Sea sectors, will be 5.6 million pounds, nearly double the allowable harvest for the 2006-07 season.

The red king crab harvest includes 18.3 million pounds to those with individual fishing quotas, plus 2 million pounds for the community development quota fisheries. That compares with the 2006-07 quota of 14 million pounds for the IFQ fishery and 1.6 million pounds for the CDQ fishery, said Forrest Bowers, area management biologist for shellfish at Dutch Harbor.

Officials also set the snow crab harvest at 63 million pounds, including 56.7 million pounds for the IFQ fishery and 6.3 million pounds for the CDQ fishery. That fishery also begins Oct. 15, but runs through the end of May.

The eastern Bering Sea tanner crab quota was set at 3.4 million pounds, including 3.1 million pounds for the IFQ sector and 344,500 pounds for the CDQ fishery. For the western Bering Sea, the total quota is 2.1 million pounds, including nearly 2 million pounds for the IFQ sector and 217,600 for the CDQ fishermen.

The higher harvest quotas are music to the ears of entrepreneurs like Rob George, of the Crab Broker.

“I need more crab,” said George. “Every year I buy more than the year before. In the eyes of a harvester, I’m a great customer. I buy it all in November. I pay for it. I’m loyal, and I do a great job marketing Alaska king crab.”

George also operates crab connoisseur tours in Dutch Harbor in October to give chefs and others an education on the harvest, the processing and the people involved in it. Some 45 people are signed up for the upcoming tour, he said.

Russian crab bust

Also weighing in on crab markets and prices is competition from imported Russian king crab. In late September, Arkady Gontmakher, the head of Global Fishing in Seattle, the largest U.S. importer of Russian king crab, was arrested in Moscow.

Offshore Leasing Plan for Alaska’s Bristol Bay Goes Into Effect Sunday

 

The government’s plan to open Bristol Bay for oil and gas leasing becomes official Sunday, July 1, 2007. In Alaska, the plan will allow for leasing of more than 78 million acres, an area larger than Arizona, and includes parts of Cook Inlet, the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The plan also includes areas off the coast of Virginia and in a part of the Gulf of Mexico. The plan is contained in the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012.

Once the plan goes into effect, only presidential or congressional action can alter it. Drilling could begin in Bristol Bay as early as 2011 but other activities such as seismic exploration, infrastructure construction and increased vessel traffic could begin sooner.

“Bristol Bay is the wrong place for drilling,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund. “Of all places, Bristol Bay should be protected from offshore oil and gas development. The risks far outweigh the potential benefits.”

Drilling in Bristol Bay had been prohibited by both congressional and executive actions until recently.

On January 9, 2007, President Bush rescinded a long-standing presidential moratorium that prohibited drilling in Bristol Bay.

A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers have introduced the “Bristol Bay Protection Act” (HR 1957 and S 1311) that would permanently bar oil and gas leasing in the region. Earlier this month, the House Appropriations Committee included specific report language in a markup of the Department of Interior appropriations bill directing MMS to conduct extensive studies on the potential impacts of drilling in Bristol Bay.

Bristol Bay is the engine of the Bering Sea fishery whose commercial fisheries generate more than $2.4 billion annually. Sportsmen flock to the bay each year, pumping millions more into the economy. And the region’s spectacular wildlife supports scores of Alaskan natives who rely on a healthy ecosystem for food.

Bristol Bay is also home to five national wildlife refuges. It is a stronghold for many marine mammals including walrus, harbor seals, northern sea otters, and numerous endangered species, including Steller sea lions, humpback and fin whales and the world’s most endangered population of large whales, the eastern North Pacific right whale.

Conservation in the Bering Sea is a priority for WWF because the area is an unusually rich marine ecoregion, supporting hundreds of communities that are heavily reliant on the region’s resources. The area is also home to vast populations of fish, shellfish, birds and marine mammals such as polar bears, whales, and sea lions.

By: World Wildlife Fund
Published: Jun 30, 2007 at 08:11