Tag Archives: Dungeness crab fishery
Dungennes crab fishery held up again by recent whale and turtle entanglements
Before the restrictions, the crab fishing season off California started before Thanksgiving, in plenty of time for holiday tables. In recent years, fishermen’s ability to drop their gear has been pushed back because whales and turtles were still be spotted in their fishing zones. This season, fishermen can start dropping their crab pots on Jan. 5, and only in the two most northern California zones. In central and southern California no start date has been announced. Officials with the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations said the industry does its best to avoid whales and have accepted limiting the seasons, but notes that since the restrictions have been in place, the industry has dropped from 450 active vessels to fewer than 100 and has lost out on tens of millions of dollars. more, >>click to read<< 07:47
I’m Dreaming of a Crab Christmas: Dungeness Season opens Dec. 16 south of Cape Foulweather
Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery opens Dec. 16 from Cape Foulweather, just south of Depoe Bay, to the California border. Targeted to open Dec. 1, Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season can be delayed or partially opened so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted. This year’s season was initially delayed until at least Dec. 16 due to low meat yield in some coastal areas. >>click to read<< 06:50
Southeast Dungeness fishery opens to low prices
Two days before crabbing started, Petersburg fisherman Paul Menish was in the cabin of his boat, the “Hi Nikki,” speculating on crab prices. “Sounds like prices aren’t going to be as low as we were quoted three weeks ago,” said Menish. “Now, it’s just rumors, but that the prices will be for Dungeness, will be in north at two dollars. Which isn’t a good price but better than three weeks ago.” It turns out Menish was right. When he sold his first load to OBI Seafoods in Petersburg, he said he got $2.10 a pound. That’s fifty cents lower than the starting price last summer. >click to read< 10:15
Crab fishermen weather a bruising season
It was a dream season for Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery last year. Fishing began on the traditional Dec. 1 opener for the first time in years. Domoic acid, a marine toxin that has hampered the valuable commercial fishery time and again in recent years, was almost nowhere to be seen in Oregon or Washington state waters. “Last season, everything that could go right went right,” said Tim Novotny, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. “And this year — I don’t know if it’s been completely the opposite, but it’s been close.” >click to read< 07:22
Storm clouds gather over local crabbing fleet
The morning was frozen, clear and calm, far better than many “dump days.” Sunday marked a first chance to start making some money after two months stuck in port. Most crabbers wouldn’t have been to bed overnight before placing their first pots. Some squeeze in more dump runs before Wednesday morning, Feb. 1, when a nearly nonstop frenzy of harvest and delivery will commence and last for weeks. With little or no sleep leading to exhaustion, the Dungeness fishery off Washington and Oregon is among the most dangerous jobs in the country. Winter weather and ocean conditions can be crazy. Fatalities are all too common, while crabbers barely bother mentioning all the back injuries, damaged fingers and a litany of other mishaps. Even so, there are plenty of local guys who don’t want it any other way. They see risk as the price of freedom. >click to read< 07:48
Quality Crab, High Price Make A Productive Opening to Del Norte’s Dungeness Fishery
Del Norte County crab fishermen say its first few days have been better than last year. After working a 2020-21 season with little to show for it, boats are actually bringing Dungeness crab to the Crescent City Harbor on time for the first time in seven years, Crescent Seafood and FV Rogue owner Kurt Hochberg told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Monday.. “It’s a big deal,” he said. “It’s a better season than last year and it’s just in time for the holidays, so it’s going very very well.” >click to read< 20:30
North Coast Fishermen Hopeful for a Good Dungeness Crab Season
For the first time in years, the North Coast Commercial Crab Season will open on December 1st. In 2020, issues with domoic acid levels, migrating whales and price negotiations delayed the start of the season to early January 2021. But the stars have seemingly aligned with whale migration, price negotiations and “pretty much zero traces of domoic acid”, according to Harrison Ibach, the president of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association,, All good news for local fishermen who are hopeful that the recent lulls of the industry will continue to rebound. “Last year was probably the worst year in many decades,” said Ibach, who is also the Captain of F/V Oceana. >click to read< 09:06
Grant: Researchers to find ways to prevent injury in the Dungeness crab fishery
The grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, totaling $895,000 over the next three years, will allow OSU professors Jay Kim and Laurel Kincl to build on existing research with the Dungeness crab fishing industry, where workers suffer high rates of both fatal and non-fatal injuries. For their upcoming study, Kim and Kincl will look specifically at the configuration of the “block,” the mechanized winch that pulls up the line of crab pots out of the water and swings them into the boat; and the crab sorting table, where crabs are sorted after being brought up from the water. >click to read< 18:18
Gary Griggs – Salmon and squid
Salmon and squid both came on the radar this past week,,, These two marine animals have both shared some top billings in their importance to California’s commercial fishery in recent years, although there are significant year-to-year fluctuations. Calamari or market squid have been the number one fishery in tonnage caught, year after year… until last year. In typical years, 70,000 to 118,000 tons (118,000 is the allowable total catch) would be brought to the docks by the squid boats, making up consistently two-thirds of the entire commercial catch. >click to read< 10:46
California crab fishery to close May 15th for whale protection
Commercial fishermen are protesting an order by California wildlife authorities to close the Dungeness crab fishery in mid-May to protect whales and sea turtles from becoming entangled in fishing gear. There have been no confirmed interactions between commercial Dungeness crab gear and any whales during the current crab season, which began in December, Ben Platt, president of the Crescent City-based California Coast Crab Association, said in a statement. The crab association statement characterized harm to migratory whales from commercial crab fishing gear as a “perceived risk.” The group said that cooperative measures between the fishing fleet and the state make it extremely rare for there to be interactions between Dungeness crab gear and subgroups of humpback whales that are categorized as endangered or threatened. >click to read< 18:24
Dungeness Crab Season Closed Early Due to Dubious Whale Crisis, COVID-19 Economic Impact on Coastal Communities Made Worse by Closure – “The risk of crab fishing gear harming endangered whales is statistically insignificant because of low concentrations of whale, as well as the relatively small amounts of gear being deployed along the Central California coast,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association (CCCA). >click to read<
California: Fewer Whales Entangled As Crab Fishermen Face Financial Struggle
Crab fishers are frustrated by recent closures, and CDFW is working with stakeholders and fishermen to come up with an economic plan that can help fishers deal with the changing industry. “We are seeing that the closures affect smaller operators disproportionately,”,,, Dick Ogg is a commercial fisherman out of Bodega Bay, California. His single-boat company is considered a medium-sized operation in the area because he catches many species. In addition to crabbing, Ogg shifts with the seasons to fish salmon, black cod, and albacore as well. This allows him to have income throughout the year. He humbly calls himself a “newbie”, having only been a commercial fisherman for 21 years. >click to read< 07:05
Oregon wants to untangle whales from crab fishery
The number of whales entangled so far this year off Oregon, Washington state and California appears to be down compared to prior years, according to preliminary reports. But Oregon wants to avoid a lawsuit like the one brought against California by the Center for Biological Diversity. That lawsuit, over impacts to whales from commercial fishing activities, settled in March. For now, fishery managers will eliminate a two-week postseason cleanup period in the commercial Dungeness fishery,,, >click to read< 15:57
King salmon arrives in stores, commanding royal prices; relief could come soon
King salmon, once as ubiquitous as burgers in backyard Bay Area barbecues, has commanded astonishingly high prices in recent years,,, Since the 2019 season opened on May 1, supply has been very limited, so prices have remained steep, reaching as high as $40 a pound in San Francisco.,,, That should start to change on Thursday, when 200 more miles of coast will open to commercial salmon fishing,… there will likely be more salmon on the market this summer is because some crab boats are planning to go out for salmon fishing, because the Dungeness crab fishery closed several months early as part of a settlement,,, >click to read<21:54
California’s whale protections must also protect crab fishing industry – Noah Oppenheim
At midnight Monday, California closed its springtime Dungeness crab fishing season coastwide, three months early. Hundreds of California crab fishermen and fisherwomen who rely on this fishery to feed their families will be off the water. They will have to find work elsewhere. Some may lose their livelihoods.,,, The ability of California fishermen to provide a seafood resource that the public rightfully owns is now even more constrained. >click to read<13:46
New regulations for commercial Dungeness crab fishery now in effect
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife enacted new regulations to reduce the risk of marine life entanglements in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear. These regulations became effective on Oct. 30, 2018, and will be in place for the upcoming 2018-19 commercial Dungeness crab season. The new regulations allow no more than two trailer buoys to be used at the surface and establish a maximum distance between the front end of the main buoy to the tail end of the last trailer buoy depending on the depth that a trap is deployed. >click to read<11:34
Southeast Dungeness crab fishermen will have full season in 2018
Southeast Alaska’s Dungeness crab fishery had a strong first week and will not have a shortened season like last year. The summer season for most of the region started June 15. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced in late June that crabbers would have a full two-month summer season. Fishermen caught more than 871,000 lbs. during the first week. The agency uses the first week’s catch to estimate how many crab will be harvested during the season. Tessa Bergmann with Fish and Game in Petersburg said this year’s estimate is the third highest on record. “Our harvest estimate for the 2018 season is just over 3.7 million lbs.,” Bergmann said. That is well above the 2.25 million lb. estimate required for a full season in Southeast Alaska. It will mean crabbers can keep fishing through Aug. 15. >click to read<15:08
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts new rules for Dungeness crab
Harmful algal blooms complicated commercial Dungeness crab seasons on the Oregon Coast for the past three seasons, threatening the viability of the state’s most valuable fishery.,,The new rules outline evisceration protocols that go into place when levels of the naturally occurring marine toxin domoic acid spike. The toxin can accumulate at high levels in a crab’s guts, but remove the guts and the meat is still safe to eat. The rules also establish 12 distinct crabbing zones on the Oregon Coast, narrowing the areas that can be closed or opened at any given time. >click to read<22:42
Whales and fishermen caught in turf war over California’s coast
As rising ocean temperatures move their food supplies closer to shore, a staggering number of migrating whales have been forced into the path of California’s crab fishing fleet — and the confrontations have increased dramatically over the last five years. State agencies have tried and failed to keep whales out of crab gear, prompting one nonprofit to take matters into its own hands.,, Some fishermen see this lawsuit as another nail in the coffin for California’s Dungeness crab fishery. >click to read< 09:20
Oregon considers new rules for crab
As closures related to harmful marine toxins continue to plague Oregon’s lucrative commercial Dungeness crab fishery, new rules are under consideration that will help state fishery managers trace crab after it is caught and respond with more flexibility. In April, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider making permanent several rules introduced this crab season. A related bill is working its way through the Legislature. >click to read< 11:25
Commercial Dungeness Crab Season to Open in Northern California
The northern California Dungeness crab fishery in Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties will open 12:01 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018. The opener will be preceded by a 64-hour gear setting period that will begin at 8:01 a.m. Jan. 12, 2018. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham had delayed the season a total of three times after crab quality test results in November and December indicated that crab were not ready for harvesting. Jan. 15 is the latest the Director can delay the season due to quality testing. >click here to read<21:23
Crab pots set to drop
Spirits were high at the Crescent City Harbor as fishermen prepared crab pots and loaded gear onto boats Friday. Del Norte’s commercial Dungeness fishery is scheduled to open on time next week despite a delay to the season between according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Local crabbers will be able to drop their pots at 8 a.m. Monday and retrieve their catch starting at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. “We’re very excited to go fishing after the catastrophe last year,” said Richard Nehmer, who was loading more than 400 crab pots onto his fishing vessel, “Resolution.” “The crab were excellent quality when they did the pre-season quality test,” Nehmer said. “They’re ready to harvest.” Last year’s delay to the crab fishery left many in the industry, including local fisherman Mike Diehl, struggling to make ends meet. “Right now I’m six months behind in rent,” Diehl said. “I used to have a pickup truck and a couple cars; I’ve had to sell off most of that stuff. I’ve pretty much been living without any heat in the house for the last four or five months, which was OK until this last month. There’s no money to be spent on anything; no Christmas, reduced birthdays.” Read the story here 11:16
Scientists Are Closer To Understanding What Makes Ocean’s Toxic Algae Bloom
Last winter was the first time the Dungeness crab fishery in Oregon closed temporarily because of toxic algae in the ocean. And even just a week ago, another toxic bloom was happening off the coast. Scientists are just beginning to understand what triggers these conditions. A study this month from Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides a rare peak below the waves. The toxin, demoic acid, is sometimes produced by an algae called Pseudo-nitzschia, or PN. PN does better than most algae when ocean temperatures are high and there isn’t much nutrients in the water. When these nutrient-poor conditions are followed by upwelling of rich, cold water from the ocean bottom, the PN are in the perfect position to party. Their numbers explode. Read the story here 08:46
Algae Bloom Is Toxic For Washington Crabbers’ Bottom Lines
Tom Petersen’s 50-foot crab boat sits idly in the Port of Willapa Harbor, a tiny coastal inlet 40 or so miles north of the mouth of the Columbia River. On a normal early-summer day, Petersen would be selling Dungeness crab to canneries, big-city buyers and even fresh off the back of his boat to locals and tourists. And he’d be making good money doing it. With crab selling at up to $10 per pound, Petersen could be making thousands of dollars a day. But for the past few weeks, Petersen and all the other commercial crabbers who fish,,, Read the rest here 06:35
Bay Area fishermen prepare for Dungeness crab season
PRINCETON-BY-THE-SEA — Bay Area fishermen are readying their boats and fixing their traps in preparation for Friday’s opening of the Dungeness crab season, the first under new regulations that proponents hope will end an “arms race” between competing crabbers. more@contracostatimes 17:10
Golden king crab stocks around Aleutians thriving
Amidst the salmon fisheries starting up all across the state, several Alaska crab seasons also get underway each summer. In mid-June, the summer Dungeness crab fishery opens in the Panhandle, as does red king crab at Norton Sound. Those are followed in August by golden kings along the far flung Aleutian Islands, which might soon take the title as Alaska’s largest king crab fishery. continued @ SitNews
Scientists Still Eyeing the ‘Dead Zone’ By Terry Dillman. This article SCREAMS for collaborative research!
This article is a perfect indication of the benefits of industry involved collaborative research, while the history of R/V Henry B Bigelow demands cut backs to NOAA’s pathetic role of stock assessment.
