Tag Archives: Tony Pettis
Pacific Seafood Controls the Dungeness Crab Market, but Small Fishermen Are Fighting Back
After a blockbuster 2022 crabbing season that saw an on-time, December 1 start date and record prices for fishermen, this year’s crab season didn’t kick off until mid-January after three regulatory delays. When the season did begin, crabbers were offered as little as $2 per pound for their catch, a price that left many struggling to pay staff and buy fuel and bait. Those conditions have squeezed the small businesses that make up the West Coast crabbing industry and act as the backbone for small towns up and down the shoreline. But this year appears to have brought boom times for one company in particular—Pacific Seafood. >click to read< 07:40
A return to sea – Crab fishermen thread storms to bring home the catch
The anticipation of pain is often worse than the pain itself. I should know this; I’ve been here before. Working for Tony Pettis and other Newport crab skippers for over a decade, I’ve had plenty of chances to listen to the howl of wind and marinate in my own anxious brine, full of questions — the chief ones being, “are we really going to leave into this weather, and can I keep my lunch down?” I should have had enough practice in just letting things be, but it’s hard. >click to read<16:37
