Satellite tags show Bristol Bay red king crab shift west in warm years

A NOAA Fisheries feature published Oct. 29 details a satellite-tagging study of Bristol Bay red king crab. From 2021 through 2024, researchers attached pop-up tags to mature male crab caught during the summer bottom trawl survey, between late May and mid-June. The tags were set to release in mid-October, between Oct. 11 and 15, around the start of the commercial season.

By fall, the tagged crab had moved west and southwest into deeper, cooler water in central Bristol Bay, and they went farther west in warmer years. The researchers checked the tag locations against where the fall fishery actually caught crab and found they matched.

Lead author Sean Hardison of the University of Alaska Fairbanks worked with NOAA's Erin Fedewa and UAF's Franz Mueter. Fedewa said closures that move with environmental conditions may protect crab better than the fixed Red King Crab Savings Area. The Bristol Bay fishery runs Oct. 15 to Jan. 15. It was closed in 1994–95 and again for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons.

Photo: A tagged red king crab during NOAA survey work. Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Leah Zacher.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: NOAA Fisheries: Satellite Tags Reveal Red King Crab Migrations Are Linked to Environmental Conditions (Oct. 29, 2026).