Contact:
Brian Marston
Yakutat Area Management Biologist
Phone: (907) 784-3222
June 06, 2012
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced today that sport Dungeness crab fishing in the Yakutat area will close effective 12:01AM, Wednesday, June 6, 2012. The Yakutat area encompasses all waters of Alaska between the longitude of Cape Suckling (144o W. Long.) and a line projected southwest from the westernmost tip of Cape Fairweather.
The most recent surveys conducted by the Department indicate the Yakutat area Dungeness crab stocks are not rebuilding following the closure of the commercial fishery in 2000. Since 2005 the Dungeness crab sport and personal use fishery in the Yakutat vicinity has also been closed. Estimates of sport Dungeness crab harvest prior to 2005 also indicated a declining trend in the Yakutat area Dungeness crab stocks. Because all indications suggest that the stock is not rebuilding, the sport fishery will continue to be closed in 2012.
The subsistence fishery will remain open as managers monitor harvest in Yakutat Bay to determine if additional conservation measures are necessary.
For further information, anglers should call the Division of Sport Fish, Yakutat, at (907) 784-3222.
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