The Barents Sea is a big source of king crab where illegal fishing occurred frequently as the stretch is running along Russia and Norway. The illegal crabbing has wreaked havoc on Alaska’s market for the past couple of years. It is said that Russian had purposely introduced king crabs into Barents Sea in 1966 but the opilio or snow crab is a true invasive species.
Ken Talley, market analyst, said that the reason behind snow crab’s invasion is still unknown. He informed that the snow crab was first sighted in the Russian waters in 1996. The scientists said the most likely reason is from ballast water in tankers that ply the waters. Jan Sundet, a leading Norwegian scientist and crab expert, explained that the snow crab stock is estimated at 10 million to 12 million adults, similar to the abundance of the region’s king crab. He added these crabs are spreading fast and so they are now routinely caught by Russian and Norwegian king crab fishermen.
According to Talley the Norwegians have no interest in such a fishery at this time and they are worried about the environmental impacts of this invasive species on their traditional fisheries. The Norwegian authority asked the fishermen to bar from returning any snow crab back to the Barents Sea to keep them from spreading. But the Russians keep on fishing the snow crab.
Meanwhile scientists have asked the government for funding the research and stock assessments on the Barents Sea snow crab. The situation ahs become very tensed on Norwegian part and the authority is now pondering over the spreading of snow crab in Barents Sea.
