The 2025 eastern and northern Bering Sea continental shelf trawl surveys: Results for commercial crab species

The eastern Bering Sea (EBS) bottom trawl survey has been conducted annually by the National Marine Fisheries Service since 1975, with the entire station grid standardized in 1988. The purpose of this survey is to collect data on the distribution and abundance of crabs, groundfish, and other benthic resources. These data are used to estimate population abundance and biomass for the management of commercially important species. In 2025, 349 total stations were sampled for crab on the EBS shelf between 31 May and 26 July. The 2025 total combined biomass of male crabs of harvestable size (legal size for Paralithodes spp., industry-preferred size for Chionoecetes spp.) for all EBS stocks was 61,215 t, 67% higher than the record-low estimate from 2021. A very large cohort of Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi) west of 166° W began to mature in 2025, producing the highest abundance estimates observed in the 1988 – 2025 time series for mature females, large males, and legal males. Although juvenile/small crab abundance declined slightly from the time series highs in 2024, large numbers of juveniles remained in the population across a range of size classes. Tanner crab east of 166° W did not experience the same recruitment trends as in the west and estimated abundance declined across all size and sex categories, with very little new recruitment. Following the 2019 – 2021 population collapse of snow crab (C. opilio), the signs of recovery that began in 2023 continued in 2025. Large juvenile cohorts that had recruited post-collapse began to reach maturity in 2025, leading to abundance increases for large/legal males and mature females. However, most males terminally molted and became mature before reaching the industry-preferred size, thus there was only a slight increase in the abundance of males of industry-preferred size. Abundance remained high for immature snow crab (although declining slightly for immature females from the time series high in 2024); however, there was minimal new recruitment into the smallest juvenile size classes. Moderate increases in hybrid Chionoecetes spp. were observed in 2024, but this trend dramatically increased in 2025, with time series highs across all size/sex/maturity categories (abundance estimates 78 – 430% higher than the next highest value in the time series). Abundance estimates for male Bristol Bay red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) remained similar to 2024 estimates (≤ 10% change) for all size categories, while estimates for immature and mature females increased. For saint Matthew Island blue king crab, abundance estimates for mature crab remained low, similar to 2024, while there were considerable increases for immature crab; iv however, these increases were primarily driven by a high catch at one survey station. Abundance estimates for the Pribilof Islands red and blue king crab stocks remained very low.