Crab consumption sits within a much larger seafood market shaped by imports, domestic landings, fishery closures, processing volumes, and international trade. U.S. residents consumed 19.1 pounds of seafood per person in 2023, while NOAA estimated that 80% came from foreign imports. The crab-specific figures below show how supply and management differ among Alaska, Atlantic, and international markets.
Table of contents
- U.S. seafood consumption and supply
- Alaska crab landings and nutrition
- Atlantic deep-sea red crab
- Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab production
- Catch limits, closures, and exploitation
- Snow crab disruption and recovery funding
- China’s live crab market
U.S. seafood consumption and supply
USDA Economic Research Service data placed U.S. seafood consumption at 20.5 pounds per person in 2021, 30% above 1990. A separate USDA ERS aquaculture page reported 20.8 pounds per person in 2022, a 38% increase from 1990. NOAA Fisheries later reported 19.1 pounds per person for 2023. These are different annual measurements, so they should be read as a sequence of reported per-capita seafood totals rather than as a crab-only series.
| U.S. seafood measure | Year | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption per person | 2021 | 20.5 lb |
| Consumption per person | 2022 | 20.8 lb |
| Consumption per person | 2023 | 19.1 lb |
| Edible seafood imports | 2023 | 6.3 billion lb |
| Edible seafood exports | 2023 | 2.5 billion lb |
Source: USDA ERS seafood consumption chart and NOAA Fisheries, Fisheries of the United States 2023.
NOAA estimated that imported products supplied 80% of U.S. seafood consumption in 2023. USDA ERS material also described imports as about 80% of consumption in 2021 and gave a broader estimate of roughly 75% to 90%. The range reflects the source and measurement context; it is not a crab-specific import share.
In 2023, the United States imported 6.3 billion pounds of edible seafood products and exported 2.5 billion pounds. NOAA reported the difference as a 3.8-billion-pound gap. Domestic commercial fishermen landed approximately 8.4 billion pounds of seafood worth $5.1 billion, while domestic production of edible fishery products was valued at $12 billion. Fish industrial fishery products accounted for another $745.5 million.
These totals help explain why crab consumption cannot be inferred from domestic landings alone. A substantial share of the seafood supply is imported, while domestic figures can refer to landings, edible production, or product forms at different stages of the supply chain.
Alaska crab landings and nutrition
NOAA Fisheries reported that commercial landings of all king crab in Alaska totaled 8 million pounds in 2024 and were valued at $96 million. In 2023, landings totaled 9 million pounds and were also valued at $96 million. The two annual totals indicate a lower reported volume in 2024 with the same reported aggregate value.
Alaska snow crab is generally harvested from January through April in the Eastern Bering Sea. NOAA describes a species that can live for up to 20 years. Female snow crab can carry up to nearly 100,000 eggs depending on size. Male snow crab can reach 6 inches in shell width, while females seldom grow larger than 3 inches.
The NOAA Alaska snow crab nutrition figures are given for a 100-gram raw serving:
- 90 calories
- 18.5 grams of protein
- 1.18 grams of total fat
- 55 milligrams of cholesterol
- 539 milligrams of sodium
- 34.6 micrograms of selenium
Source: NOAA Fisheries, Alaska snow crab.
Those nutrition values describe raw snow crab per 100 grams, not a typical restaurant portion and not total annual consumption. They are useful for comparing the composition of the food itself, while the landing figures describe the commercial fishery before consumption.
Atlantic deep-sea red crab
The Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery provides a separate U.S. crab benchmark. Commercial landings totaled 1,999.4 metric tons, or 4,408,055 pounds, in 2022. NOAA set the 2024 annual catch limit at 2,000 metric tons and the total allowable landings limit at 2,000 metric tons.
For the 2026–2027 period, NOAA set the current annual catch limit and total allowable landings at 4.41 million pounds. The fishing year runs from March 1 through the end of February. This means the management year does not align with the calendar year used for the 2022 landing figure.
The fishery uses traps at depths between 200 and 1,800 meters. The crabs include females up to 1.5 pounds and males up to 2 pounds. Females can reach 5.25 inches of carapace width, while males can reach 6.5 inches.
Source: NOAA Fisheries, Atlantic deep-sea red crab management and NOAA Fisheries, Atlantic deep-sea red crab specifications. The specifications and management figures are retained as reported for their stated years and periods.
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab production
Across the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Fishery Management Plan fisheries, commercial ex-vessel landings totaled 51.2 million pounds, or 23.1 thousand metric tons, in 2021. NOAA’s Crab Economic SAFE report said that total was nearly 20% higher than 2020 and 60% higher than the historical low of 31.87 million pounds in 2018.
The Bering Sea snow crab, or BSS, catch landed in 2021 reached 44 million pounds, equivalent to 20 thousand metric tons, and was up 32% from 2020. The Aleutian Islands golden king crab, or AIG, catch reached nearly 6 million pounds. The Bering Sea Tanner crab, or BST, catch reached about 1 million pounds.
Processors produced 33 million pounds across all BSAI crab species and product forms in 2021, or 15.1 thousand metric tons. Processing volume was up 20% from the previous year. By fishery, BSS finished production was nearly 29 million pounds, up 31% from 2020. AIG finished production was 3.8 million pounds, or 2.0 thousand metric tons. BST finished production was 650 thousand pounds, or 294 metric tons.
The value chain also shows a difference between landing revenue and first-wholesale revenue. Aggregate ex-vessel revenue across all BSAI crab fisheries totaled $297 million in 2021. Aggregate first-wholesale revenues totaled $372 million.
Source: NOAA Crab Economic SAFE 2022.
Catch limits, closures, and exploitation
The BSAI figures include substantial variation by fishery and season. The BBR fishery total allowable catch, or TAC, declined from 9.99 million pounds in 2014/15 to 2.65 million pounds in 2020/21, then the fishery was closed for 2021/22 and 2022/23. BSS TAC reached 45 million pounds for 2020/21, fell by 90% to 5.6 million pounds for 2021/22, and the fishery was closed for 2022/23.
Other reported TAC changes were less abrupt but still material:
| Fishery | Earlier or peak TAC | Later TAC | Season or period |
|---|---|---|---|
| EAG | 4.31 million lb | 3.32 million lb | 2019/20 to 2022/23 |
| WAG | 2.96 million lb | 1.73 million lb | 2020/21 to 2022/23 |
| BTW | 2.35 million lb | 1.16 million lb | 2020/21 to 2022/23 |
| EBT | — | 0.85 million lb | Opened for 2022/23 |
The intermediate WAG TAC was 2.32 million pounds for 2021/22. BTW fell to 1.1 million pounds for 2021/22 before increasing slightly to 1.16 million pounds for 2022/23. EAG declined from its 4.31-million-pound peak to 3.32 million pounds.
Since the 2015/16 crab season, allowable catch quantities in all open BSAI crab fisheries reached 98% to 100% exploitation of the total allocation landed. WBT exploitation was a notable lower figure, declining to 62% in 2020/21. These exploitation measures describe the share of an allocation landed, not the share of all crabs in the ocean.
Source: NOAA Crab Economic SAFE 2022.
Snow crab disruption and recovery funding
The Bering Sea snow crab fishery was closed for the first time in history in 2022, according to a NOAA Fisheries feature story. NOAA identified the 2018–2019 marine heatwave as the most likely cause of the eastern Bering Sea snow crab decline. The same account noted a record number of juvenile snow crabs during the 2015 eastern Bering Sea survey.
In 2024, the Alaska Bering Sea snow crab fishery received $39.5 million in disaster funding. Together, the closure, the ecological explanation, the earlier juvenile-survey observation, and the funding figure show why consumption statistics must be separated from annual availability. A high landing or production year does not establish a permanent supply level, and a closure does not measure consumer demand by itself.
Source: NOAA Fisheries snow crab feature story.
China’s live crab market
China’s market provides a major international comparison for live crab trade. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service reported that total imports of live crab into the People’s Republic of China increased 26% year over year in 2023 to $1.63 billion. U.S. exports of live crab to China reached $73 million, giving the United States a 4.5% share of the PRC live crab market. Russia held 60%, Canada 10.5%, and Burma 5%.
Russia’s live crab exports to China increased from $411 million in 2020 to $978 million in 2023. Burma’s crab exports increased 104%, from $7.5 million in 2020 to $84.5 million in 2023. These are trade values, not pounds consumed.
The same USDA FAS market update reported $18.7 billion in Chinese seafood imports in 2023 and said live seafood exports represented roughly 35% of U.S. seafood exports to the PRC. It cited China’s per-capita seafood consumption as 16.2 kilograms in 2022 from official government resources, while another industry source put it at 40.33 kilograms. The update cited U.S. per-capita seafood consumption at 22.45 kilograms. Because the Chinese figures came from different sources, they are not interchangeable estimates.
Live-crab logistics were also quantified. Hunchun imported 15,525 metric tons of Russian live crabs from January through November 2023, almost 50% of China’s total imports from Russia. Almost 90% of the crabs arriving through the Hunchun route were distributed to regions across China on the same day, and live crabs reached Shanghai wholesale markets within two days via that route. Russian king crabs and snow crabs were routed through the 60-kilometer Zarubino-to-Hunchun corridor.
USDA FAS also reported that Shanghai Pudong Airport Customs supervised more than 6,100 batches and more than 10,000 tons of fresh seafood in May 2023. Batch counts were up 30% year over year, while tonnage was up 40%. Beijing’s JingShen Seafood Market supplied 80% of high-end seafood products in Beijing.
For context, PRC live lobster imports rose 29% year over year to $790 million in 2023. U.S. live lobster exports to the PRC rose 86% to $182 million and held nearly 25% of that market, while Canada held 76%. These lobster figures are not crab consumption, but they show the scale and competitive structure of the wider live-seafood trade.