Hatcheries examined as key to Alaska crab recovery

Submitted by Doug Schneider
Phone: (907) 474-7449
02/28/06

KODIAK, ALASKA--In the basement of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center on Kodiak Island, what might be the key to rebuilding the state’s crab fisheries swims nearly invisible within tall plastic tanks.

In the tanks, billions of tiny single-celled algae called diatoms have turned the water the color of tea. Brad Stevens, a research fisheries biologist at the center, is growing the algae as food for about 1000 juvenile Bering Sea blue king crab that were hatched and are being raised at the center. Stevens said growing the food was one of the biggest hurdles to successfully growing crab in captivity.

"It took us about four years to find just the right diatom strain that would grow in the water temperatures we had here,"? said Stevens. "We tried using local strains but we couldn’t isolate them from other diatoms and the other diatoms would outgrow them."?