sentences:  The Bering Sea fishery for tanners opened in 1961 and soon became a major fishery in the North Pacific, with record catches as high as .Before the passage of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976 much of the Bering Sea tanner crab was caught by Japanese and Soviet fishing vessels.Due to the massive harvests, numbers declined sharply, with only harvested in 1984.