Analysis

Snow crab (<i>Chionoecetes opilio</i>) is considered an invasive species in the Barents Sea with first observations dating back to 1996. The Norwegian commercial fishery for snow crab has been increasing since it first commenced in 2012. This fishery adopted conical baited pots, similar to other fisheries targeting snow crab. During the last decade, different management measures have been implemented to ensure sustainability in this relatively new fishery. One central challenge is pot loss during deployment caused by challenging weather and operational conditions. Lost snow crab pots can have a considerable potential for continuous capture of crabs, so-called “ghost fishing,” which has been documented during lost gear retrieval and experimental trials. This study considered different scenarios of snow crab pot losses and associated economic implications. The results show that given the substantial number of pots used on snow crab fishing vessels, even small variations in pot loss rates (0.5 – 3.0% pot loss) can result in considerable differences in ghost fishing and associated environmental and economic effects. The estimated ghost fishing in this study ranged from 11.5 to almost 70 thousand kg ghost fished crabs during a 3-year period assuming 0.5 – 3.0% pot loss scenarios, resulting in significant differences in ghost fishing expressed in amount of snow crab and value of ghost fished catch. These results highlight the importance of all incentives and technical measures that can reduce pot losses and associated ghost fishing time.