Bering Sea | Fishes and Fish Habitats MASTER’S POSTER PRESENTATION Testing the efficacy of mark report satellite tags (mrPAT) to examine movements of mature male snow crab ( Chionoecetes opilio ) in the eastern Bering Sea Presenter: Concepcion Melovidov , camelovidov2@alaska.edu, University of Alaska Fairbanks Leah Zacher , leah.zacher@noaa.gov, NOAA - Alaska Fisheries Science Center Andrew Seitz , acseitz@alaska.edu, University of Alaska Fairbanks Understanding movements of high-latitude marine species can help refine management strategies, especially in a changing climate. In 2021, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) annual eastern Bering Sea (EBS) bottom trawl survey showed an alarming decline in mature male snow crab. The cause is still under investigation, but researchers are learning it was likely a mass mortality event in immature snow crab that failed to recruit to maturity. Further complicating matters, snow crab distributions have been shifting northward in the EBS over the last several decades and snow crab movements may be occurring in areas that are unsurveyed down the continental slope or out of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Currently, limited tagging research has been used to understand snow crab movements and distributions. This pilot study examines the efficacy of mark report pop-up satellite tags for understanding the movements of mature male snow crab in the EBS. In 2022, we tagged 30 snow crab during the commercial fishery and 18 during the NMFS survey. Of the 30 tags, 28 tags (93.3%) popped up on or shortly after their scheduled pop-up date. The minimum days these tags were at liberty was 72 days while the maximum days at liberty was 82 days. These snow crab moved an average distance of 58.k km (mean rate of 0.74 km/day) in a northward direction from their tag release location. These preliminary results indicate that these tags can be a promising method for examining movements of mature male snow crab. Further analyses of the tag data may also help elucidate if crab captured during the summer survey represent those in winter fisheries, if crab caught in the commercial harvest are represented in the summer survey, and if movement patterns are related to fluctuations in the Bering Sea thermal regime.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2023 211
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