Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission rejects controversial petition on crabbing gear

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle

SPRINGFIELD — Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishing community cheered a decision by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to deny a petition by conservation groups over humpback whale entanglements in fishing gear. 

More than 200 Dungeness fishermen and their supporters from Astoria to Gold Beach attended a 5½-hour commission meeting Friday in Springfield on the petition, which called for imposing new regulations on crabbing gear. The petition rattled the industry, with 60 people calling for the commission to deny it during the public comment portion of the meeting. The commission also received up to 900 letters prior to the meeting, according to officials. The vast majority opposed any new regulations. 

The Dungeness crab fishery is Oregon’s most valuable. Last season was the most lucrative in history at $97.1 million paid to crabbers despite a significant drop in the overall catch. The previous record was $91.5 million during the 2021-2022 season, which was about $1 million more than the 2023-2024 season. 

The petition was filed in December after rescuers failed to save a juvenile humpback that washed onto a Yachats beach in November tangled in Oregon commercial Dungeness crab gear. It was the fourth confirmed entanglement of a humpback in Oregon gear in 2025 — a record for the fishery that surpassed three humpbacks and one fin whale entanglement in 2024. 

“Whale entanglements in fixed fishing gear across the West Coast have increased,” Justin Ainsworth, ODFW marine resources manager, told the commission. “The increase in encounters is likely driven by an increasing West Coast humpback whale population, changing ocean conditions that increase the overlap of whales and crab gear and improved reporting and documentation of entanglements.” 

Humpbacks are divided into 14 distinct population groups with three occurring off the West Coast. Two of those three are listed as endangered or threatened by the federal Endangered Species Act. Coastwide, humpback numbers have been increasing by about 8% per year since the late 1980s, however different segments of populations grow at different rates. 

“As of 2018, the coastwide population was estimated to be about 5,000,” Ainsworth said. “That estimate is currently being updated using data through 2024 and is expected to be higher reflecting that continued growth.” 

The petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Natural Resource Defense Council and American Cetacean Society called for six amendments to current rules and three new rules to avoid entanglements. 

Crabbers oppose switching gear  

One of the petition’s most “disastrous” proposed rules would undermine the industry, according to Dungeness fishermen who testified. It would have mandated a switch from traditional crab pot gear to “pop-up” gear by April 1, 2028. Fishermen say pop-up gear, also known as ropeless or on-demand gear, is cost prohibitive.   

This gear stores ropes and buoys with traps on the seafloor rather than using vertical lines that pose entanglement risks. When fishermen are ready to retrieve their catch, they use an acoustic signal to trigger the release of the buoy, which rises to the surface for retrieval. 

The gear has never been tested in the tumultuous waters off the Oregon coast or the Columbia River where shifting tides can bury pots in sand and sediment and scatter them far from where they are initially placed.

The petition also sought to adjust late-season crabbing to reduce the number of pots by 40% along with a 180-foot depth restriction (exempting pop-up gear) until the prohibition of conventional gear in 2028. 

Crab fishermen and supporters who testified said the proposed rules would put operators of smaller boats out of business and hurt other fishermen, severely damaging the industry and causing an economic trickle-down effect that would devastate coastal communities. 

“I’m here because this petition threatens to put us out of business,” said Newport fisherman and Oregon Coast Crab Association President Gary Ripka. “The petition doesn’t rely on science. What we are doing is working.” 

Ripka railed against conservation groups, saying ODFW shouldn’t give out-of-state organizations the power to shut down the fishery if a whale is entangled. Fishermen and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have worked together in “good faith” for generations, he said, creating practices that have succeeded in increasing humpback populations for decades. 

“We’ve made adjustments, we’ve already made investments,” Ripka said. “We’ve done everything you’ve asked. We’re the experts and the reason this fishery is sustainable. We view this petition as our spotted owl.”

He told the seven commissioners that fishermen would stand by them in the face of any lawsuits from conservation groups if the petition were denied. 

“We will work with you, we will be your partners,” Ripka said. “I’m asking you to just stand with Oregon, stand with our communities from Astoria to Brookings that depend on us. Reject this petition please.” 

In opening statements, Ainsworth, the marine resources manager, said ODFW has worked with NOAA Fisheries for seven years to complete a draft conservation plan for the fishery. An approved plan would allow for a pre-determined number of entanglements without affecting the fishery. 

The agency has also been working with the Dungeness fleet and the Oregon Entanglement Advisory Committee since 2019 to develop and implement a host of entanglement risk reduction measures, engaging in rulemaking with the commission in 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024. More rulemaking related to testing pop-up gear and monitoring vessels is scheduled for August. 

Ainsworth and his staff recommended accepting the petition. But he made it clear that doing so would not mean adopting the rules in the petition. 

“It just means a rulemaking process would begin so the commission could make decisions around the different ideas,” he told the Lincoln Chronicle last month. “It’s a subtle difference, but I’m concerned that the general public or fishermen might say it’s either all these measures are going to be rules as of February or they’re going to deny it, and it’s actually not the case.” 

In denying the petition by a vote of 6-1, commissioners noted that accepting it and expanding on what the agency is already doing would slow down efforts to complete the conservation plan — which Ainsworth said will be completed this year. 

Vice chair Becky Hatfield-Hyde said that accepting the petition would not satisfy those behind it because it would not mean a change.

She added later that the “very public entanglement” of the whale beaching in Yachats had created a sense of urgency. 

“I think that there’s an urgency to take care the best we can to mitigate against something like that happening,” she said.

She said a solution should involve a careful process and the collaboration of the community.

• Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]