CRUSTACEAN RESOURCES ARE VULNERABLE TO SERIAL DEPLETION - THE MULTIFACETED DECLINE OF CRAB AND SHRIMP FISHERIES IN THE GREATER GULF OF ALASKA

The seas around Alaska support (or have supported) some of the most co mmercially significant crustacean stocks in the world, spread over an overwhelming array of extensive and diverse coastal and open shelf are as. Major resources include three species of king crab (Paralithodes s pp. and Lithodes aequispina), Tanner and snow crab (Chionoecetes spp.) , Dungeness crab (Cancer magister), and five species of pandalid shrim p (Pandalus spp. and Pandalopsis dispar). Excluding the Bering Sea, th e resources from the Greater Gulf of Alaska (ranging from the Aleutian Chain to the state's southeastern panhandle contiguous with British C olumbia) supported rapid expansion of several crab and shrimp fisherie s during the 20 year period 1960-1980. Since then, most of those fishe ries have collapsed. While some of the stock declines have been well d ocumented and discussed (most prominently the `dethroning' of red king crab on the shelf around Kodiak Island), it has been less apparent th at the demise of Alaskan crustacean stocks is a process on a much larg er scale, and is still unfolding. Here we examine trends in catch, rec ruitment and abundance (when possible) and discuss existing evidence o f overfishing and management options. We emphasize the importance of r ecognizing the multi-scale spatial structure of crustacean stocks, and suggest the need to consider spatially explicit strategies, particula rly the creation of reproductive refugia.