Norway.- A number of Nofima researchers are publishing a collection of the established knowledge and research results on king crab and snow crab in the renowned scientific journal “Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture”.
The hope is that the combined knowledge will impact the relatively new snow and king crab industry as broadly as possible, and benefit the industry in specific ways. In addition, a review will be of interest to other scientific communities both at home and internationally.
“A review demonstrates the range of a subject. With regard to research on king crab and snow crab, Nofima covers the entire value chain – also in terms of knowledge. By putting the pieces in the value chain together, we obtain a comprehensive picture of the research that has been done, and can view the knowledge in context. It has been very instructive,” says senior researcher Grete Lorentzen.
Open access
Along with her colleagues Gøril Voldnes, Ragnhild Dragøy Whitaker, Ingrid Kvalvik, Birthe Vang, Runar Gjerp Solstad and Sten Siikavuopio from Nofima and Marte Renate Thomassen from the University Hospital of North Norway, she has written the scientific article , which in its current form, is called a review. The title is “Current status of the red king crab and snow crab industries in Norway.” The article is published with what in academic circles is termed open access – which means that it’s freely accessible to anyone who is interested.
“It’s quite costly to buy open access for an article, but we’re doing it because we believe the knowledge should be accessible to everyone interested in it,” Grete Lorentzen says.
New insight and inspiration
“We have dealt with the entire process from catching to the market for two species that are relatively new and unknown in Norway. As far as we know, nothing similar has been written on snow and king crab from other places in the world,” Lorentzen says.
Although the crab industry is relatively new in Norway, it is by no means insignificant. In 2016 exports of king crab amounted to NOK 529 million, with snow crab at NOK 338 million. And the industry is expanding.
In the review the researchers argue that commercial fishing for king crab and snow crab has become important for the Norwegian seafood industry, and that the industry has had to acquire knowledge on species that require technology and processing completely different from traditional fishing.
For snow crab, which has greater affinity for the cold than king crab, keeping it alive in captivity has proven to be a major challenge.
Contact person:
Grete Lorentzen
Senior Scientist
Phone: +47 995 54 336
grete.lorentzen@nofima.no
Reference:
Grete Lorentzen ORCID Icon, Gøril Voldnes ORCID Icon, Ragnhild D. Whitaker, Ingrid Kvalvik, Birthe Vang, Runar Gjerp Solstad, et al. Current Status of the Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtchaticus) and Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) Industries in Norway. Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23308249.2017.1335284
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23308249.2017.1335284
