BY GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery will open next Saturday from just south of Depoe Bay to the California border but will be delayed until at least Dec. 31 from Depoe Bay to the Washington border.
In announcing the opening this week, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife decided to split the commercial Dungeness opening after pre-season testing showed crab yields remain too low north of Cape Foulweather.
Crabbers can begin setting their pots Wednesday and start pulling them at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 16.
Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery is the most valuable of all the coastal fisheries, bringing in $80 million to $90 million to the crab fleet the past two seasons. But it is unclear what the dockside price of Dungeness crab for commercial operations will start at this season until crab processors or other buyers set or negotiate prices.
The Newport Crabbing Association held meetings Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the base price per-pound they would like to get from processors to begin the season. The meetings were closed to the general public.
On Friday, the association and the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission announced there would be “state supervised” price negotiations with processors and fish buyers beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday in Newport.
The opening price at the beginning of last season, which was delayed until Jan. 15 was $2.61, according to ODFW. The price dropped to $2.13 in February – a near historic low, which led to a significant portion of the Newport fleet tying off at the docks for nearly two weeks in an unofficial work stoppage in an effort to persuade processors to increase prices.
In March the price bumped up to $2.78 per-pound, then $3.78 in April; then $4.87 in May and June before hitting the season’s high of $5.00 in July before closing out at $4.68 in August, according to ODFW.
The state’s decision to open the Dungeness season came after a second round of testing last week to determine meat yield in areas that failed standards in the first round of testing before Dec. 1. New results determined all but a few areas north of Cape Foulweather – two areas north of Newport and near Astoria — were acceptable.
Domoic acid was not detected during the first round of tests, carried out by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and was subsequently not tested for during the second-round of meat-yield tests.
ODFW made the decision in consultation with the crab industry, the agriculture department and California and Washington fishery managers.
Targeted to open Dec. 1, Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season can be delayed so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted.
ODFW tests crabs out of Oregon’s six major crabbing ports in partnership with the agriculture department, the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, and the commercial Dungeness crab industry.
Oregon, California and Washington coordinate Dungeness crab quality testing and the commercial season opening dates. California and Washington have also delayed their commercial seasons until at least Dec. 16.
The second round of tests determined satisfactory meat yield in Crescent City, Trinidad and Eureka California, but not Washington’s Long Beach and Westport areas.
During the 2022-23 season, the commercial Dungeness crab season was repeatedly delayed until Jan. 15 and opened in stages due to low meat yield biotoxin levels above the safety threshold.
The meat recovery percentage is calculated by dividing the total weight of the meat picked (called pack weight) from the crab by the total weight of the crab landed at the dock (called boat weight) for each meat recovery area.
The commercial bay crab fishery closed Dec. 1 in conjunction with the delayed ocean commercial season. It will reopen when the ocean commercial season opens.
The recreational ocean Dungeness crab season reopened Dec. 1 as scheduled and the recreational crab harvesting in bays, estuaries, and on beaches, docks, piers, and jetties is currently open coastwide.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
