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Mick, thanks for taking the time to share your observations and expertise about this industry. Just want to say that my point about sharing the Canadian cod in

Mick, thanks for taking the time to share your observations and expertise about this industry. Just want to say that my point about sharing the Canadian cod industry collapse was to illustrate the long-term effects - it still hasn't recovered 30 years later. And maybe that dovetails with what you're saying about indie crabbers being driven out, although from what I understand of the Canadian situation there is basically no industry now, indie or otherwise. Curious: What is your line of work in Alaska?

mickdeek86 4y ago
I agree things aren't looking good long-term. I didn't mean to attack your point specifically but to address the thread as a whole. The Atlantic cod collapse certainly was caused by overfishing, but the situation isn't all that comparable beyond the semi-permanence of the loss. The north Atlantic had a true tragedy-of-the-commons situation, this is most likely climate change, which is even more discouraging. I'm in PLC/controls, so no expert on commercial fishing. Just hear/saying from those who are.
pedalpete 4y ago
You also have to take into account the sexual maturity and number of offspring of the species. Cod reach sexual maturity from 2-7 years, crab in 1 year. But Atlantic cod apparently lay 200k-2m eggs, alaskan crab between 50k-500k. Though I can't quite see if the cod number is lifetime or annual. I seem to recall a huge drop in the Salmon population on the Fraser river back in the early 2000s. Seems the numbers continue to bounce around. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fraser-sockeye-numbers-up-from-2009-officials-say-1.1305233 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fraser-socke... Doesn't mean we don't need to know why. It's good that the crab season is cancelled, but I really feel for the crab fishermen. After the last few years, and with inflation, to lose a whole season must be devistating.

mickdeek86 4y ago

I agree things aren't looking good long-term. I didn't mean to attack your point specifically but to address the thread as a whole. The Atlantic cod collapse certainly was caused by overfishing, but the situation isn't all that comparable beyond the semi-permanence of the loss. The north Atlantic had a true tragedy-of-the-commons situation, this is most likely climate change, which is even more discouraging. I'm in PLC/controls, so no expert on commercial fishing. Just hear/saying from those who are.

pedalpete 4y ago

You also have to take into account the sexual maturity and number of offspring of the species. Cod reach sexual maturity from 2-7 years, crab in 1 year. But Atlantic cod apparently lay 200k-2m eggs, alaskan crab between 50k-500k. Though I can't quite see if the cod number is lifetime or annual. I seem to recall a huge drop in the Salmon population on the Fraser river back in the early 2000s. Seems the numbers continue to bounce around. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fraser-sockeye-numbers-up-from-2009-officials-say-1.1305233 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/fraser-socke... Doesn't mean we don't need to know why. It's good that the crab season is cancelled, but I really feel for the crab fishermen. After the last few years, and with inflation, to lose a whole season must be devistating.