August 7, 2023 — Oregon crab fishermen are feeling a similar pinch to their Massachusetts lobstermen counterparts as state lawmakers there weigh increased regulations to protect whales.
Humpbacks, which migrate off Oregon’s coast, and other whales can get caught in the vertical ropes connected to the heavy traps and drag them around for months, leaving the mammals injured, starved or so exhausted that they can drown.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission was expected Friday evening to vote on whether to permanently set stricter rules and pot limits put in place in 2020 to protect whales. The restrictions, which were originally supposed to end after this season, would reduce the number of traps, known as pots, and how deep they can drop in the spring and summer months when humpbacks are more likely to encounter them. The commission did not take up the measure that night.
The move comes during a turbulent period as Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery contends with warming oceans, smaller crabs and shortened or canceled seasons due to high levels of an acid that makes the crabs inedible.