Year
2019
Operation Area
Bering Sea
Purpose
Alaska red king crab is one of the most valuable of the commercially harvested crabs, in demand for its succulent and flavorful snow-white meat. To make better decisions regarding the protection of this important fishery, researchers from NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation teamed up to track the movements of red king crab using saildrones. In June 2019, researchers aboard a chartered fishing vessel tagged 148 mature male Alaska red king crabs with a shell length greater than 120 mm (4.7 inches); in September, two Saildrone USVs equipped with keel-mounted VEMCO acoustic receivers were launched from Dutch Harbor, AK, to find out where the crab had gone.
Results
The two saildrones covered a total of 3,500 nautical miles and located a total of 50 crabs—34% of the tagged group.
