The cities of Unalaska and St. Paul in the U.S. state of Alaska have reached an agreement to share revenue collected from the processing of 1.6 million pounds of Bering Sea snow crab.
After two years of closures, NOAA Fisheries announced in October 2024 that it would be opening up the Bering Sea crab fishery for a limited harvest with a 4.7 million pound total allowable catch (TAC). Around 1.6 million pounds of that TAC was designated for the North Region, which, according to a framework agreed to by harvesters and processors in September 2024, had to be processed in St. Paul.
However, the sole major processor in St. Paul, seafood giant Trident Seafoods, opted not to open its processing facility for the small snow crab allotment for 2025.
To salvage the 1.6 million pound harvest, officials from St. Paul negotiated an exemption contract with the city of Unalaska, which will allow the crabs to be processed in Unalaska. Unalaska officials will collect a 3.5 percent tax on behalf of the St. Paul government, meaning the latter won’t lose important tax revenue.
“Without the exemption contract, the 1,576,624 pounds of North Region Crab would go unharvested, unprocessed, and unsold to consumers,” municipal law firm Munson, Cacciola & Severin told Unalaska officials in a memo.
The Unalaska City Council approved the exemption contract at a 3 January 2025 special meeting.
In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed that a fishery disaster had impacted the Bering Sea snow crab fishery following the 2023-2024 season closure. That determination opens the door for the federal government to award financial relief to impacted crab harvesters, processors, and affiliated businesses.
