Southern king crab presents a distribution including three countries with distinct management, from region XIV (40º S), in central-southern Chile, down to the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego, Chile and Argentina) and up through the southwestern Atlantic coast of Argentina to the deeper parts (ca. 700 m depth) of the continental slope of Uruguay (see Retamal, 1981; Boschi et al., 1992; Gorny, 1999; Vinuesa, 1991 in (Anger et al. 2004)). Four Southern king crab (Lithodes santolla) populations have been identified in the SW Atlantic: i) Bonaerense and SW Atlantic continental shelf, ii) Gulf of St. George and SW Atlantic continental shelf, iii) Tierra del Fuego and Santa Cruz coasts and SW Atlantic continental shelf and iv) Beagle Channel (INIDEP, 2016).

In Chile, the species can be found from the XIV to the XII regions, but concerning management, there are two main units, XIV-XI and XII regions that account for most landings (Sernapesca). Region XIV’s fishery is incipient, and region XI is in process of creating a new management committee, but so far both are considered, with the X region, to have the same management.