Confidence Waits for the Crab Season
Fishermen use a steel box trap called a pot. A steel frame covered with a wire mesh. Each pot is 600–800 pounds. A ship may carry 150 to 300 pots. Herring or codfish are placed inside the pot as bait and the pot is sunk to the sea floor where the king crab live. The pots are dropped in a line for retrieval. Red and blue king crabs can be found anywhere between the intertidal zone and a depth of 100 fathoms. Golden king crabs are in depths between 100 and 400 fathoms. The potlocation is marked on the sea surface by a buoy, later used for retrieval. Allowing pots to rest on the sea floor (typically one to two days for red and blue king crabs, longer for golden king crabs), the pots are dragged back to the surface using a hydraulic crane with a pulley on the end called a block. The pot is brought onboard the boat and crew sorts the king crab. Any not meeting the regulation requirements are thrown back. The arthropods are stored live in a holding tank until the boat reaches shore, where they are sold. If the weather becomes too cold the live crabs may freeze and burst. If they are left in the tank for too long they will harm and possibly kill each other as they can be cannibalistic. Also if a crab dies in the hold it releases a toxin which can kill up to ten crabs. If the crew doesn't remove the dead crabs, they can poison the whole tank and ruin the catch.
Size: 5366px × 3577px
Location: Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Alaska, USA
Photo credit: © JJ / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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