Crab-22: how Norway's fisheries got rich – but on an invasive species
by Gloria Dickie
December 20,2020
| Source:
The Guardian
Known locally as ‘Stalin’s Red Army’, an invasion of king crabs from Russia created a lucrative industry, and difficult choices
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Gloria Dickie in Bugøynes, Norway
Sun 20 Dec 2020 09.00 GMT
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People stand around a bucket of King Crab, caught in a lake at Jarfjord, near Kirkeness, northern Norway
Pot of red gold ... Norway exported nearly $9m worth of king crab in October alone. Photograph: Cultura Travel/Philip Lee Harvey/Getty
The Norwegian fishing village of Bugøynes, 310 miles north of the Arctic Circle and a frigid, dark place for much of the year, was on the edge of ruin.
Work was scarce. Years of overfishing and mismanagement had stymied cod quotas. Boats lay idle in cold waters. Those who chose to stay were forced to rely on what meagre wages they could still muster from fishing and processing.
That is, until the crabs arrived. Starting in the 1980s, woeful fishermen began hoisting up mysterious, spindly giants in their nets in Varangerfjord. The aliens, brandishing two menacing pincers, weighed far more than the brown crabs they had seen farther south.
Unknown to the fishermen, the crustaceans had traveled from Russia, where scientists had introduced red king crabs on the Murman coast during the 1960s with the goal of establishing a new, lucrative fishery. Slowly, the crabs scuttled the 60 or so miles over the border into Norway. The deep fjords in the Barents Sea near Bugøynes provided the perfect cover.
The invasion of “Stalin’s red army” was initially seen as a disaster. The crabs became entangled in gillnets and longlines, removing bait and causing damage that allowed coveted fish species to escape. But when the fishermen learned of the million-dollar Alaskan king crab fishery, they realised the crab could be more boom than bust. Today the red king crab is largely credited with rescuing the fishing villages of the north during a time when cod was sparse.
The monstrous crabs, which now number in the millions, have become the centre of a huge industry: this October alone, Norway exported nearly $9m (£6.7m) worth of king crab. The price of king crab has tripled in just over a decade, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council. The fishermen of Bugøynes can sell their catch for more than 210 Norwegian kroner ($24) a kilo to producers, who distribute the crustaceans to the world’s finest restaurants, hotels and casinos.
The Norwegian government recently announced it was increasing the male crab quota by 18% to 1,810 tonnes in 2021.
But while the crabs have largely been good news for fishermen and the economy, the same can’t be said for other species. Following the crab’s cross-border move, native seafloor species have rapidly declined. The crabs are continuing to expand their territory, and could soon arrive in the Lofoten Islands, one of the world’s largest seasonal cod fisheries.
That puts government regulators in a tough spot, between securing the long-term economic viability of the crab fishery and limiting its takeover of native species and traditional fisheries. They ultimately can’t push for total eradication if king crab is to continue buoying northern coastal communities – but at what cost?
Hundreds of small vessels continue to rove the fjords looking for the crustaceans. In parts of northern Norway, gillnet fishing has more or less stopped due to the crustacean’s takeover.
As for its detrimental impact on the ecosystem, the problem is likely to persist as long as king crab retains its popularity on the plate over Norway’s native fish species.
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Theme(s): Fisheries Resources.
