A group of U.S. senators is asking the U.S. Commerce Department to rush an emergency declaration for several Alaskan crab fisheries that had their entire upcoming seasons canceled.
Alaska’s two U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Washington’s two senators, Patty Murry and Maria Cantell, sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo asking her to declare a federal fishery disaster for the 2022-2023 Bering Sea snow crab, the 2022-2023 Bristol Bay red king crab, and the 2021-2022 Bristol Bay red king crab seasons. The cited an estimate from Alaska’s state government putting losses from the closures at USD 287.7 million (EUR 278.6 million)…