Opilio Crab
Although open by regulation since October 15, the Bering Sea snow crab season is just getting underway, with harvesters heading out fishing following the holiday season. As of January 10, NMFS reported that only 1 percent of the 33 million pound quota available to the general fishery had been landed, though boats were on the grounds working. An additional 4 million pounds of community development quota crab is also on the table. No official ex-vessel price data is yet available and price offerings to date represent preliminary prices.
King Crab
It is still too early for official ex-vessel value information for the king crab fishery to be available from any third party source. However, reports from Unalaska/Dutch Harbor indicated that harvesters were paid between $4.00 and $4.60 per pound for their catch.
Wholesale values for king crab are more difficult to trace so soon after the season. State of Alaska reports on wholesale king crab values will not be available for some months still. Trade reports on wholesale values give some suggestions of trends, however. Urner Barry reports that wholesale prices on the West Coast at the beginning of the 2005 sales season were down nominally from the preceding year. (Urner Barry reports wholesale prices FOB West Coast, based on leg counts per 20-lb. box. For more information on this reporting basis, see sidebar: Counting Crab.) This gap widened, however, as the 2005 season wore on. The wholesale price fell by as much as 17 percent (for 9 to 12 count crab) from early November to late December of 2005, bringing the drop from 2004 to 2005 prices closer to 15 to 25 percent, depending on leg size. This is in contrast to 2004 when prices held steady, or increased, between the season start and the holiday season.
While these prices cannot be used as an indicator of overall health of the wholesale market, they do correlate with industry reports that the slower pace of the king crab harvest allowed by the new rationalized management system was causing hiccups in customary sales activities.Counting Crab
One industry standard for comparing size grades of crab is by the count of legs per 20-pound box, excluding claw sections. So, a very large side grade might have 6 to 9 crab legs per box, plus a claw section for every four legs���as would be the case on an actual crab. As crabs get smaller, there would be more legs per box. Alaska king crab are typically on the larger end of the scale���ranging from 14 to 16 count per 20-pound box, to the large 6 to 9 count range.
