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Looks like a campfire get together - buncha old crabs.

The Crabs are better looking and no where near as fat.

lol

Ouch! Too close to home!

November 10th 2023
With Alaska’s Bering Sea snow crab fishery shut down for the second year in a row, crabbers are having to make tough decisions and find creative ways to earn income, like selling direct to Anchorage consumers, sometimes in parking lots.

A hand-painted sign on an Anchorage street corner and a hanging sign with the words “Live Alaskan King Crab” were enough to draw in customers to a Spenard parking lot that had become home to one of the shellfish pop-up sales. The live crab sale was in its fourth day on Nov. 2 and had already sold more than three-quarters of the 700 red king crabs hauled out from the Bering Sea.

Myoung Kim was thrilled to see the sale, which he’d heard about from a friend. As he watched the king crabs crawl around in massive seawater-fed tanks, he said this was a special treat he’d struggled to find in recent years.

“I’ve tried to buy all the time. This is hard to get,” Kim said. “I don’t know who sells live king crab.”

He said it had been three or four years since he last enjoyed the prized shellfish, which he kept trying to convince everyone else to buy.

“I’ve really (been) waiting for this one. It’s different,” Kim said. “It’s sweet, too.”



Kim’s three-year estimation lines up with the last time Bering Sea crabbers were allowed to fish for Alaska red king crab, in 2020. The fishery reopened on Oct. 15, after being closed for two seasons due to low population numbers. And this season was capped at a much lower catch limit than historic averages.

Those massive, beach ball-sized king crab actually only account for a small portion of a typical crabber’s income, with the smaller snow crab normally making up the vast majority of Bering Sea crabbers’ revenue. But that fishery completely closed this year for the second straight season, and the fate of the local industry it supports is uncertain.

In an attempt to make up some lost income, third-generation fisherman Gabriel Prout brought red king crab to Anchorage to sell directly to consumers.

He hauled a portion of this year’s catch from his homeport in Kodiak to Seward, then trucked the crab, along with some fresh seawater, north to Anchorage. That extra fuel and equipment weren’t cheap, but Prout said it was profitable.

“Even with all those costs added up, it still pencils out,” Prout said. “And I’m really happy to be able to make this available to the local Anchorage area.”

Part of the reason the trip penciled out is the wide margin between the price the seafood processing companies are paying and what Prout could charge Anchorage customers.

Prout sold the live crab in Anchorage for about $25 per pound, roughly three times the processor’s rate, but still less than what most grocery stores would charge, he said.

https://alaskapublic.org/2023/11/10...p-up-sales-but-industrys-fate-uncertain/

I'm gonna venture to guess that these live Red King Crabs could average as much as 7 to 8 pounds each.

@ $25 a pound, $175 to $200 per crab.

i just looked at frozen King crab in my local Costco. $34.90 per lb..... I love king crab but thats a little salty for me.

But not as bad as the Wagyu new york strip for 96 bux......

It funny you mention Costco.

I was on the phone today with a individual that's involved in management with one of our nation's largest seafood processing companies.

He told me popular rumor has it Costco has been peddling Russian schit King Crab and marketing it as 'Alaskan' Crab.

Told me numerous of the processor’s were banding together and sending Costco a FU, better quit it letter.

He told me Costco had recently ran $19.95 per pound sales with foreign low quality crab they are getting for chump-change.

shrimp boats do it here , fish markets can buy cheep pond raised prawn trash to sell . then pay the local boats next to nothing for the fresh shrimp