Two-zone management of the red king crab fishery in Norway: the quota-regulated area east of 26°E and the free-fishing area to the west

The red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) was introduced by Soviet scientists to the Barents Sea in the 1960s and has since established a large population along the coast of Finnmark, northern Norway. Norway manages the species with a two-zone approach. East of 26°E a quota-regulated commercial fishery is run for long-term yield, and west of that line free fishing aims to keep the crab as scarce as possible and slow its spread. This review summarises the political origins of the approach in White Paper No. 40 (2006–2007) and its evaluation in White Paper No. 17 (2014–2015). It describes the annual regulations: total quotas for males and females, set-asides for recreational, tourism, research, youth and bycatch fishing, participation rules, the turnover-based quota ladder, the 130 mm minimum size, closed seasons and the ban on releasing crabs outside the quota area. It then reviews published evaluations of how the regime has worked. In the 2026 regulation the male quota was set at 900 tonnes, against scientific advice of 850 tonnes. The 2025 assessment estimated the harvestable stock below BMSY and fishing mortality above Flim. Catches in the free-fishing zone have grown, to about 870 tonnes in 2025 as of the report date. The literature disagrees on whether free fishing has contained the spread. Economic studies argue that the two-zone design creates incentive problems, including subsidy side-effects and illegal fishing. Gaps include data on recreational catches, monitoring of the invasion front and a formal management strategy evaluation. Files. English version: 02-king-crab-management_en.pdf. Russian version (full translation, identical reference list): 02-king-crab-management_ru.pdf. Series. Crab Fisheries Review Series, No. 02 — narrative reviews of the Barents Sea crab fisheries and fisheries employment written by a practitioner with more than ten seasons on Norwegian fishing vessels. Author. Renat Besolov — independent researcher; founder of BFISHERMAN. Website: https://rbesolov.com/en/