By ABBEY McDONALD/The Astorian
ASTORIA — Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishermen have already hauled in the highest-grossing season on record, with a dockside, or ex-vessel, value of $78.1 million.
The previous record was $74.2 million in ex-vessel value, set in the 2017-18 season. The value is calculated by the average cost fishermen get per pound, multiplied by pounds brought in.
This year’s record-breaking value comes a quarter of the way into the season, after negotiations, chance and consumer demand increased dockside value.
Last year had a low haul of around 12 million pounds. By comparison, fishermen have already brought in 15.3 million pounds since the season opened in December.
This caused processors and restaurants to have lower reserves than usual, increasing demand.
Tim Novotny, a spokesman for the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, said anticipation was a major contributor to this season’s explosive start.
“A lot of people were really getting a great opportunity to get crab out there to the consumers who were really clamoring for it. So they didn’t want to mess around with any kind of delay due to a delayed, prolonged negotiation process,” Novotny said.
That resulted in a starting price around $5 per pound for fishermen, which Novotny said is the highest Oregon’s Dungeness industry has ever seen.
In addition to a favorable price, the season started on time for the first time in seven years, allowing them to meet the holiday market.
Novotny said staffing shortages in processing facilities and rough weather in early January had an impact on the season, but, overall, conditions were in the industry’s favor.
Although the average price for Dungeness crab went up this season, factors like proximity to the coast and individual business agreements mean that the higher price doesn’t translate directly to every store and restaurant.
“This is a victory for the fishermen and the industry, but it’s really a victory for the coastal economies and the state economy as well,” Novotny said. “We’re just getting started. This season goes on until August, and hopefully there’s continuing to be a good supply of crab.”
The first few months of Dungeness crab season usually brings in the majority of the haul, meaning despite being a record-breaker in value, this season is unlikely to beat the all-time weight record of 33 million pounds.
