Gearing up: Crabbers get ready

Crab pots are beginning to fill area ports, a sign that the state’s most lucrative commercial fishery is preparing for the season ahead. “We already have 200 staged down at the dock,” said commercial fisherman Florian Mumford, who will fish 600 pots this season total from the F/V Vengeance. Mumford was busy alongside crew Erik Ervest, Mark Hippensteel and Devlin Moline prepping pots Friday, Nov. 15, inside a covered building at the Ilwaco Boatyard. The official start of the 2024 Washington commercial Dungeness crab season could come as early as Dec. 1, if the crab pass preseason test fishery results for meat recovery and shell hardness. The tests are conducted in four rounds by WDFW, beginning in October and continuing through November in Washington, Oregon and California. The WDFW uses contracted coastal commercial crab vessels to conduct the test fishing. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:39

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