Dutch Harbor: The ADF&G conducted a king crab pot test fishery in the eastern Bering Sea in August and observed higher than unusual mortality in king crab held in re-freshed sea water tanks during a four-day period. The dead loss represented 23% of the entire catch compared with a usual seasonal average of less than 1%. The sea surface temperature in the eastern Bering during the test fishery was 48 - 50o F, which is well above the 44o F normal for that time of the year. During the remainder of the test fishery, the holding time was reduced to 48 hours and the deadloss was in the "normal" range. [Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, Nov. 1997].--Jeff June JAJfish@aol.com

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