The Russian fisheries agency announced a huge increase in red king crab quotas last week. The new quotas are a result of surveys showing the crab stock in better shape than expected.
For red king crab in the Far East, quotas have been raised 179% over the initial 2013 crab TAC. Some of this quota increase was applied in the fall of 2013. For 2014, the total quota will be 7,222 tons.
For Blue king crab - which is primarily sold in the U.S., the quota will go from 4828 tons in 2013 to 7655 tons in 2014.
The Barents Sea crab quota will increase 5% also, while for golden king crab, Russian quotas will decline 8% to 3321 tons.
This means that total Russian red and blue king crab supply will be 15,000 tons, and there will also be more crab from the Barents Sea, and a small decline in golden king crab. Opilio quotas will increase about 5%, to 20,422 tons.
The impact of increased Russian king crab will not reach the U.S. before the Christmas holiday, but it should mean ample crab supplies for the first quarter of 2014.