Tag Archives: Dungeness crab
Oregon Dungeness crab season sets new record for value
The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission expects the 2021-2022 season to set a new record as the highest grossing season ever. The current record of $74.2 million was set in 2017-2018. This year, the Dungeness crab fleet has already landed $78.1 million, and the season is not yet over. The 20-year average is 17.3 million pounds. As of Tuesday, the fleet had brought 15.3 million pounds ashore, below average, but above last season’s 12.2 million pounds. Video, >click to read< 15:04
How to make the most of Dungeness crab season on the Sonoma Coast
Shawn Patterson, who fishes wild Pacific king salmon during its local season, has established Lisa Lu Fishery LLC and formed a partnership with Adam King. They recently acquired the crab boat F/V Susan E from a Bodega Bay fisherman. Lisa Lu Fishery is selling live crab for $10 a pound directly to consumers and $8 a pound to restaurants. Prices are higher than they often are, but that’s the case with almost everything during the pandemic. He expects to stay in the water until the state closes the season, after the bigger boats have pulled their pots and concluded their season. “We expect to have plenty for direct-to-consumer sales and farmers market sales,” >click to read< with some nice recipes! 09:47
Shortened Dungeness crab season reflects industry uncertainty
Commercial crabbers have made quick work of this year’s Dungeness crab harvest, bringing substantially fewer crustaceans ashore with each lift. The haul has been so meager that even those who ply the waters south of Mendocino County,,, Closures and major catch restrictions in Alaskan crab fisheries, where king and snow crab stocks have plummeted, has heightened demand this winter for the Dungeness crab caught off Central and Northern California. “The thing that’s saving us is the price,” said Dick Ogg, “We’re down to two or three crabs per pot,” said Bodega Bay fisherman Tony Anello, one of many getting ready to pack it in. (Then the conversation of ropeless fishing begins,,,) >Click to read< – Campaigners say ropeless technology could spare whales in the Firth of Forth >click to read< 09:28
Off Washington state’s coast, Dungeness crabbers get early start to season, haul in bounty
Some 60 vessels in Washington’s oceangoing crab fleet worked through a stormy December to bring in more than 4.69 million pounds of Dungeness in a strong start to the annual harvest. The ocean harvest has unfolded in a stretch of coastal waters from Klipsan Beach south to the Columbia River. Fishers also have had to endure some tough, chilly weather during the final weeks of 2021. “We’re all from Alaska so it seems pretty normal to us,” said Daniel Crome, who was raised in Petersburg, Alaska, and fishes out of Westport with a five-person crew that as the catch rates dropped off, was cut to four. Back at the docks, these Dungeness have fetched $4.75 a pound or more. >click to read< 08:23
Oregon: 2021-22 Dungeness Crab season blowing past last year’s harvest
Tim Novotny is a spokesman with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. He says it was great to have this commercial crabbing season start on schedule for the first time since 2014, but the numbers as of Tuesday (Jan. 4) are also wonderful. “We finished our first month of the season so far with 12.8 million lbs. landed, so that surpassed last year. And our ex-vessel value has come in at $63.3 million. So that surpassed all of last year. >click to read< 09:50
Sonoma Coast Dungeness crab arrives in local markets
Dick Ogg seemed to be relieved to be bringing in a haul of Dungeness crab now that the season has started after a delay of more than a month. “It’s OK,” Ogg said when asked about the haul he had on his boat, Karen Jeanne, which was about 2 miles from shore. “I’m not going to say it’s great. But it’s OK.” Ogg noted that the season provides an economic shot-in-the-arm for those tied to fisheries, especially the estimated 30 crabbers docked in Bodega Bay, the processors who transport the crustaceans, and the markets and restaurants that sell the product. photos, >click to read< 08:43
Half Moon Bay fishermen optimistic about Dungeness crab season opening
“I’m a little optimistic. Everyone thinks there is a little more this year than last year, and the weather the next handful of days look really nice,” crab fisherman Scott Edson said. Edson, who will be fishing out of Point Reyes this year with a crew of two on his 36-foot boat, has spent the last few days getting ready for the upcoming crab season the next few months. He has less pressure this season after a great salmon season,,,“I think it’s gonna be better than last year, maybe a little better,” Edson said. Porter McHenry, who fishes out of Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, agreed. >click to read< 08:50
Finally! Commercial Dungeness Crab Season opens in the Bay Area
“We’ve been delayed here because of the whales being present,” said John Barnett who owns the crabbing boat, The F/V Amigo, docked at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. California Fish and Wildlife pushed the Dungeness crab season back to December 29th to give whales in the area more time to leave the fishing grounds, and now they’re gone. “We’re ready to go fishing,” >video, >click to read< 07:40
Crab Fisherman Zip-Ties a GoPro Camera Inside a Crab Pot – a Feeding Frenzy Ensues
Have you ever wondered what happens inside crab pots when they’re underwater? Fortuna resident Robert Wall decided to find out. “My friend John said we should put a GoPro in one of the pots. Honestly, I was just curious and wanted to see what goes on down there.” So they zip-tied the little camera to the inside of the cage, loaded some herring and chicken in there for bait and pressed record. Before the silt has settled, the shadows of hungry Dungeness descend, their claws and legs clattering against the bars of the metal grate. “I didn’t expect the crab to be at the pot in under 30 seconds,” Wall said. “It gets pretty crazy down there.” Video, >click to watch< 07:54
Dungeness crab catch ‘amazing’, but shortage of crew on boats, plant workers an issue
“About 80% of our whole seasons gets landed in the first 8 weeks,” said Tim Novotny with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. “So we had about 4 million in the first week and about double that in the next week.” By the pound, crabbers are getting a good bang for their buck due to the quality of the crabs. “We could use more workers, both on the boats and in the processing sector,” >click to read< 09:01
Coast Guard help Oregon State Police measure illegally small Dungeness crab; skipper cited
State troopers cited the skipper of a crab boat for taking undersized Dungeness crabs after a biologist noticed a large number of small crabs at a seafood processing plant on Oregon’s northwest coast. Oregon State Police said the investigation started December 6. That’s when an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist sampling commercially caught Dungeness crab at a seafood processing plant in Warrenton noticed numerous undersized crabs from one boat. >click to read< 06:12
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
California: Dungeness crab season opens on time, but it’s off to slow start
Dan Schmidt has been fishing off Ten Mile Beach for the past six or seven years. The F/V Condor harvested a fraction of what it normally gets for the first pull of the season on the first day of Dungeness crab season Wednesday. With fuel and bait costs, it wasn’t very lucrative, and Schmidt said he’s shifting to black cod and lingcod, which are more cost-effective, unless the season picks up later. “I’ve talked to a lot of other guys that have fished from up here to Shelter Cove and it’s kind of the same scenario,” Schmidt said. “Apparently Crescent City and Eureka have some good volumes of crab, but down here it’s not the same.” >click to read< 16:53
Oregon: Dungeness Crab season begins
Newport crabbers were treated to great weather, a rare on-time start and a high opening price as they kicked off what will likely be a historic Dungeness crab season this week. The season opened Dec. 1, the first on-time start in six years, with a starting price of $4.75 per pound at the Newport docks. Good weather also let many of the smaller fishing vessels set out at the same time as the large ones, allowing many to bring in their first hauls late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. >click to read< 07:44
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
Commercial Crab Season: Boats out, baskets ready
For the first time since the 2014-15 season, the ocean commercial Dungeness crab fishery opens as scheduled Dec. 1 along the Oregon Coast. Commercial crab vessels were able to set gear Nov. 28. the pre soak period, in anticipation of the first pull of ocean crab pots on Dec. 1. In partnership with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission and the commercial Dungeness crab industry, ODFW tests crabs out of Oregon’s six major crabbing ports beginning in early November. This year, crab tested from Oregon’s crab harvest areas have high meat yield and are well below domoic acid alert levels. >click to read<12:16
Another Thanksgiving, another crab season delay
On a foggy morning in early November, Dan Kammerer hauled a crab trap onto a fishing boat,,, Kammerer, a retired fisherman, is playing a small role in aiding California’s crab fishing industry, On that day, he was selecting crabs to be tested for domoic acid. The toxin is not the only unwanted presence: In the past few years, a handful of migrating whales have been tangled in crab traps. Now, the season cannot open until a majority of the whales are gone. “We’ve gone from a seven-month-long crab season to one that is going to be three months, at best,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association, which advocates for the fishery. If the regulations keep tightening, Platt said, “there’s a good chance that the Dungeness fishing industry won’t survive.” >click to read< 10:55
Commercial crab season delayed again but set to start Dec. 1 north of Sonoma County
It’s a bitter pill for those who own smaller fishing boats and those for whom the trek north would not pay off, however. They’ve already missed the lucrative Thanksgiving market due to the initial delay of the Central Coast’s usual Nov. 15 commercial start. “The little guys are suffering big time,” said veteran Bodega Bay fishermen Tony Anello, who said he knows three young, newer additions to the fleet who “have no way of making it right now.” In the meantime, ‘We’ve got to find a way for this Nov. 15 date to occur, for us to fish with these animals,” said Dick Ogg, vice president of the Bodega Bay Fishermens Marketing Association. >click to read< 07:41
Oregon: Dungeness crab season starts Dec.1!
It’s the first time in seven years that the season has not been delayed by low meat yields, high levels of domoic acid, or both.,, But the scheduled opening has been delayed in recent years. In some years, parts of the coast have remained closed into late January. This year, commercial crab vessels can set gear Nov. 28, and begin pulling pots on Dec. 1. >click to read< 07:37
Dungeness crab season opens with extra restrictions as industry sees economic consequences
From Lopez Point in Southern Monterey County to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County, Dungeness crab catching is allowed right now using crab traps, hoop nets and snares, potentially bringing in a boost to the Central Coast economy during the holidays. But due to whale activity, take using crab traps is temporarily restricted in Fishing Zones two and three from the Sonoma/Mendocino county line to Lopez Point. Mike Conroy is the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association. He said historically, the opening of Dungeness crab season would mean big business for fisheries across California. >click to read< 10:02
Prohibition? Crab traps may be banned as Dungeness season approaches
Recreational Dungeness crab season opens Nov. 6 and, in response to new regulations by the Fish and Game Commission, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife may prohibit crab traps in an effort to prevent marine life entanglement. Charlton Bonham will review data from the department’s Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program to assess the environmental impacts of crab traps for both recreational and commercial crab fishing. The first hearing will be held on Nov. 1, which could impact gear policies for the season opening five days later. >click to read< 10:18
Oregon F&W Commission adopts 1st Dungeness Crab FMP to be developed on the West Coast
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has adopted regulations for implementing the Oregon Dungeness Crab Fishery Management Plan. The FMP describes the status of Dungeness crab and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife management of two commercial crab fisheries, bay and ocean, and the recreational crab fishery in the bays and ocean. While the majority of regulations are already in place for the management described in the FMP,,, >click to read< 10:01
Pandemic economy brings record Southeast Dungeness crab prices
Southeast’s summer Dungeness crab season ended up being worth $13 million. That’s about double the $7.52 million average over the last decade. The summer fishery brought in just over 3.09 million pounds of Dungeness crab.,, the average price paid for Dungeness crab this summer was a record breaker at $4.21 per pound. “That’s a record high price for the fishery, said Joe Stratman,“This summer, in terms of total value and average price, it vastly exceeds the recent 10-year average,” >click to read< 12: 48
Locally sourced seafood attracting crowds to the fishing boats in Half Moon Bay
Commercial trawlers pan for bottom-feeders at least three miles from shore. Purse-seiners use nets closer to the surface, while traditionalists fish the way the Egyptians did with hooks and lines. Nothing causes a bigger commotion than Dungeness crab in late fall, when eager customers line the docks like going to the DMV. The crustacean has joined turkeys as a Bay Area staple of the holiday dinner table. “All the crab pots are like little money banks that you just pull up and dump out the money,” Hassan said. Weekend dock sales have become integral to survival for anglers like Hassan. Smaller boats don’t catch enough to supply wholesalers, so they bypass the supply chain for direct sales. >click to read< 13:31
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
Pandemic, labor , product shortages, and supply chain issues disrupt Dungeness Crab market
Seafood distributors, sellers and processors point to a number of factors that converged to create a perfect storm: the coronavirus pandemic, labor shortages, product shortages, supply chain issues and market demands. All have contributed to drive prices up from the usual $25 or so per pound to as much as $52. This season was difficult for many in the industry. It opened late and yielded a mere 12 million pounds to date, compared to last year’s 20 million. On average, commercial crabbers land around 16 million pounds in Oregon, though the fishery can be cyclical, with boom and bust periods. >click to read< 19:13
International: BC crab poacher has to pay more than $12,000 in penalties
An almost three-year legal odyssey for a persistent local crab poacher, one that involved three enforcement agencies in two countries, ended in Surrey Provincial Court with a conviction, more than $12,000 in penalties, and a five-year ban on fishing anywhere in B.C. But the offender managed to keep his boat after his Canadian court date, unlike what happened to him in the U.S. legal system. >click to read< 10:10
Commercial Dungeness Crab fleet ordered to end operations June 1 for whale endangerment concerns
An order to end the current crabbing season six weeks early in Northern California will deliver another blow to crab fishermen in Humboldt County after seeing record low landings this season, fishermen said. “The price on crab is very high right now. There might not be the most participation (out of the season) but there are still a lot of people who rely on springtime crabbing at a very high price,” he said. “It is quite unfortunate and sad that it is going to be closed earlier than normal.” California Department of Fish and Wildlife director Charlton Bonham ordered the state’s commercial dungeness crab fishing fleet to end its activities at noon on June 1, approximately six weeks earlier than the normal July 15 end for Northern California crab fishermen. All crab lines must be cleared by the end time set. >click to read< 08:33
Dungeness Crab season is going strong on Oregon Coast
The commercial Dungeness crab season has been underway for about four months. About 11 million pounds of crab have been off-loaded so far. The Dungeness Crab Commission says season yields go up and down each year. This year is expected to be a down year, but the commission doesn’t expect to see too steep a drop in the overall catch. >click to read< 09:10
Groundbreaking co-management decision by B.C. First Nations, DFO protect crab for Indigenous food, social and ceremonial purposes
After 14 years of collecting data and aligning Indigenous knowledge and fisheries science, the federal department, DFO, and the Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Heiltsuk, Nuxalk and Wuikinuxv nations decided to close the commercial and recreational fisheries in those areas indefinitely. The decision was the first made as part of a collaborative governance framework that will guide future management decisions for several species in the region over the coming years. “There’s a lot riding on this type of decision-making,” >click to read< 18:11
