BUGØYNES — Weighing over two kilos, with each of its six legs measuring around 50 centimeters plus two long claws, the crab chosen by chef Gunnar Jensen is impressive, to say the least.
Its measurements are duly documented in the QR code that’s attached to one of its claws. Caught on behalf of the company Norway King Crab in the cold waters of the Barents Sea, in Norway’s far north-east, this beautiful rock-colored specimen belongs to the family of the largest crustaceans known in the world: the king crab.
“The name ‘king’ comes from the fact that the crab’s blood turns blue when it comes into contact with snow,” explains the chef, who worked for a long time in the kitchens of one of the best restaurants in Tromsø — the capital of the Arctic — before launching his own catering business.
Cherished by American, European and Asian gourmets, the pearly, slightly sweet flesh of the crustacean is tasty and “lends itself to multiple recipes, in combination with a wide range of seasonings and flavorings.” Gunnar Jensen demonstrates this by making, before our eyes, four dishes of his own, after killing and boiling this colossus of a crab for several minutes in a large pot. A few bay leaves and salt are all that’s needed to season the dish.
A luxury dish as main producers are struggling
Armed with scissors, the 40-year-old chef cuts the claws that have become bright red from the boiling and recovers the particularly abundant flesh. Cooked with chive butter, marinated with an Asian-style sauce, in a soup or a salad: All preparations perfectly enhance the distinct flavor of the crab. Rich as it is in omega 3 — fatty acids that are particularly recommended for the heart — the king crab is also attractive to consumers.
But with one kilo costing 34 to 60 euros ( to ), depending on whether it’s sold frozen or alive, the crustacean is a luxury delicacy. It’s also become increasingly rare as the main producing countries are currently struggling.
Norway’s love affair with the king crab was off to a bad start.
Russia, which historically supplied 94% of global volumes, has seen its most profitable markets disappear since the implementation of an embargo on its exports, due to the war in Ukraine. In the United States, the scarcity of Alaskan crab populations has de facto dwindled fishing for two years. Some scientists link this decline to ocean warming under the effect of climate change — but without certainty.
This has created a shortage, of which Norway is now taking full advantage, having entered the market only some 20 years ago. The country has developed its own sector with a fishing calendar of 10 months per year — a longer period than Russia. “In 2023, most of the 2,743 tons caught by just over a thousand fishermen has been exported,” confirms Synne Guldbrandsen, marketing manager at the Norwegian Seafood Council, located in Tromsø. “In value, this represents 5% of the country’s fishing revenue.” The main destinations? The United States, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
An invasive species that became a boon
Yet, Norway’s love affair with the king crab was off to a bad start.
Fishermen hauled the first crabs into their nets along the Varanger Peninsula, close to the Russian and Finnish borders, a windswept lunar landscape plunged into cold and darkness for nearly half the year. With a leg span of more than two meters, weighing over 10 kg for the largest specimens and a lifespan of around 20 years, these “monsters” ruined fishing tools that were designed for cod and other white fish — the region’s main fishery resource.
The problem is that the giant crustacean isn’t an endemic species. Collected in Siberia by Russian scientists, the Kamchatka crab was introduced in the 1960s to the Barents Sea, in the Murmansk region, for economic purposes — an old idea dating back to the Stalin era. It took almost 30 years for the animal to settle in this new environment and reach the Norwegian coasts due to its regular migration westward to reproduce — in particular, to the small village of Bugøynes. Established in the 18th century on the southern shore of the Varanger fjord, the village is located about 100 kilometers from the Russian-Finnish border by road.
From a potential pest, the extra-large crab would actually become the lifeline of the local economy.
The arrival of this invasive and omnivorous species, which eats the same marine organisms as cod, initially caused dismay among the 300 or so residents of this village of brightly colored wooden houses — especially as white fish resources tended to decrease. The local cannery had closed and the fishermen were forced to deliver their catch further into the fjord. This new threat was enough to worry the mayor: In 1991, he even decided to launch a call for help in Dagbladet, one of Norway’s leading newspapers, to find jobs for his constituents, even if it meant relocating them.
But in the end, it didn’t need to come to that. From a potential pest, the extra-large crab would actually become the lifeline of the local economy, thanks to the determination of some fishermen, exporters and Norwegian authorities, who knew that — from Miami to London and Dubai — there would be customers for this giant of the seas. Some more daring fishermen, including Leif Ingilae, whose family has been living in Bugøynes for generations, and Øyvind Seipaejaervi, would show the way by prospecting the market themselves.
A lucrative and less tiring fishing job
In 1994, the Norwegian government also took interest in the issue. A first experimental Russian-Norwegian project was launched in the region, with initially very limited quotas of 11,000 crabs. Until 2000, samples were collected twice a year to define the biological and economic parameters likely to help manage this resource as well as possible. Less than a decade later, commercial quotas were put in place on the maritime area extending from Kirkenes to the North Cape, in order to make this new windfall last. A floor-price system to guarantee a certain level of income for fishermen was also established.
there’s no need either to go out to sea every day to earn a very decent income.
Beyond that, no restrictions were imposed, to try and limit the further migration of the species. At the time, the crab population recorded in the area exceeded 3 million individuals.
Leif Ingilae and Øyvind Seipaejaervi ended up inspiring and attracting many other fishermen in the years that followed, and starting up a bonafide industrial and tourist activity. The very conditions of this type of fishing are appealing: Indeed, there’s no need to sail very far as, given the depth of the fjords, this type of crab lives close to the coast. And thanks to the quota system, there’s no need either to go out to sea every day to earn a very decent income. This means the job is much less tiring than cod fishing and undeniably more lucrative than many others.
Erling Haugan can attest to this. “I left my job in digital marketing in 2011 and trained on the job, accompanying friends on their boats,” says the 50-year-old. On a sunny September morning, surprisingly mild for the season, the new fisherman talks about his experience while delivering his catch of the day to the former Bugøynes cannery, bought in 2008 by Norway King Crab. “I take my boat out with my partner when the prices are high. Today, however, because of the wind, I couldn’t pull up all my traps,” explains the self-taught man. From his boat, he unloads 89 kg of merchandise.
A QR code with the fisherman’s name
Some 80% of the volumes collected in the traps are thrown back into the water — either because the crabs aren’t big enough or because they are damaged. Inside the reception and storage shed, Haugan’s cargo is inspected once again. “I have to separate the healthy males from the damaged ones or the females,” explains Even, a young temporary worker. After weighing, each animal is labeled with a QR code that includes the weight, date and location of the catch, and even the fisherman’s name.
Developed by Norway King Crab, this valuable traceability and marketing tool will follow the animal throughout its journey from the observation tanks in the Varanger Fjord to its shipment by plane to a clientele of Michelin-starred restaurants, via a storage and packaging hub next to Oslo’s International Airport.
The crab population of the Barents Sea has shown more and more signs of fragility.
“This year, we’re going to ship about a hundred tons,” says Norway King Crab’s founding CEO, Svein Ruud, with his cap on his head. An economist by training, Ruud has lived between Russia and Norway for a long time, working in the salmon industry before he developed an interest in king crabs.
The challenge is to keep the animal healthy and to avoid stress. That is why the company has been working on designing tanks where the animals can coexist without disturbing each other and that can ensure a regular supply of oxygen and seawater in its three storage units. Today, 16 years after the company was founded, more than two-thirds of the crabs exported from Norway are alive.
“My problem at the moment is finding enough merchandise,” says Svein Ruud, as demand has never been higher.
Declining crab populations
For the past 18 months, the crab population of the Barents Sea has shown more and more signs of fragility. Their numbers are declining and the number of animals in poor condition is increasing. Overfishing? Yet-to-be-identified health problems?
As they try to better understand the phenomenon, in the meantime, Norwegian authorities decided to take drastic measures last December, reducing the annual quotas by 60% in eastern Finmark, the county located in the far north of the country. The forecasts for 2025 are hardly more encouraging.
More should be revealed in December when the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries publishes the new quotas in keeping with the analyses and recommendations issued by experts from Norway’s Institute of Marine Research (IMR).
Erling Haugan is very worried, and so are the other fishermen.
Should the country consider setting up a complementary development of supplies via crab farming, based on the model of the salmon industry? “After having carried out various laboratory tests, we will start an industrial-scale feeding experiment in November in Honningsvag, near the North Cape,” says Grete Lorentzen, from the Nofima food research institute. “Within a year, we will know more about the viability of this farming method and the possibility of transferring our knowledge to industrialists.” But the road may still be long before this can reach the maturity of what’s currently done on a large scale for salmon in Norway.
Erling Haugan is very worried, and so are the other fishermen and locals who have developed a whole tourist offer around crab, ranging from safaris to guest houses, bistros and cooking workshops.
As for the founder of Norway King Crab, he’s already working on diversifying his exports with another crustacean: the snow crab. Abundant, but living in the open sea, far from the coast, this species is much smaller than the king crab. It also requires different equipment, even pre-treatment on board, and therefore larger boats. Negotiations are currently in full swing in Norway to determine the conditions for its fishing and Svein Ruud is working behind the scenes to get the most out of it. But, as he knows, this move will also require consumer education.
