Saving Seafood

Safeguards for whales delay California’s commercial crab season for second straight year

November 5, 2020 — Whales feeding in abundance off the California coast have delayed the commercial Dungeness crab season for the second consecutive year, the result of new rules intended to protect whales and other marine wildlife from entanglements in fishing gear — and any additional restrictions that arise in such cases.

Chuck Bonham, director of the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, on Wednesday postponed the season opener until at least Dec. 1, pending further aerial surveys and signs that whales had begun migrating from fishing grounds.

The commercial crab season traditionally starts Nov. 15 in waters south of the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, early enough to put fresh, succulent crab on the Thanksgiving menu.

The holiday season is when most California crabbers earn the bulk of their income for the year, harvesting $51.8 million worth of Dungeness in 2019 in one of the state’s most consistently lucrative fisheries. Landings in Bodega Bay reached $5.6 million in 2019, according to state data.

Read the full story at The Press Democrat

Despite shutdowns, Oregon Dungeness crab fleet fares well

November 5, 2020 — Oregon crabbers had landed 20.07 million pounds of Dungeness as of August. Ex-vessel price negotiations and meat fill issues delayed the opening of the season until 31 December. And like other fisheries, the arrival of COVID-19 put the stops on product flow to preferred markets.

As for the resource, the good times continue to roll for the crabbers. Based on average ex-vessel prices of USD 3.64 (EUR 3.12) per pound this year’s revenues crunch out to USD 73.06 million (EUR 62.67 million). According to data from PacFIN, the Oregon fleet averaged USD 3.58 (EUR 3.02) per pound for revenues of USD 66.7 million (EUR 57.21 million) in the 2019 season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

CALIFORNIA: CDFW Works with Commercial Dungeness Crab Industry and Environmental Community to Implement New Regulations to Protect Whales from Entanglement

November 5, 2020 — The following was released by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife:

The commercial Dungeness crab season in the central management area, which was scheduled to open Sunday, Nov. 15, will be delayed due to the presence of whales within fishing grounds and the potential for entanglement. In mid-November, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director will re-assess entanglement risk in the central management area and evaluate risk in the northern management area, which is scheduled to open Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Following increased numbers of large whale entanglements in 2015 and 2016, CDFW worked with the Dungeness crab fleet and partner organizations to develop the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP). After substantial review and input from industry and the environmental community, the RAMP regulations became effective on Nov. 1, 2020. The risk assessment conducted by CDFW this week, in consultation with the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, is the first assessment conducted under the new RAMP regulations.

“While no one wants to delay the season, CDFW and the Working Group feel a delay is necessary to reduce the risk of entanglement,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “The fleet has gone to great lengths to be more nimble in order to protect whales and turtles, and the results are promising. This year for the first time in a long time it looks like we don’t have to worry about domoic acid, which is good news.”

In collaboration with Working Group advisors, agencies and other partners, CDFW is committed to collecting real time data regarding presence of Humpback and Blue whales, and Pacific leatherback sea turtles in Dungeness crab fishing grounds. Combined with an improved and consistent process for information sharing and decision making with the Working Group, CDFW is able to provide more certainty to the fleet as to the timing of potential delays and openings. When the whales migrate out of the fishing grounds in coming weeks, CDFW stands ready to open the commercial season.

Read the full release here

California rolls out new Dungeness crab regulations to reduce entanglements

October 28, 2020 — California officials on Monday, 26 October, announced new Dungeness crab fishing regulations designed to reduce encounters with several endangered species.

The new regulations, which will take effect on Saturday, 1 November, call for fishermen to lower the number of traps in areas where a higher number of whales or sea turtles are present. The state also reserves the right to close an area if an entanglement occurs.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Dungeness crab: Despite shutdowns, Oregon fleet fares well; live market spikes prices to $6.28 per pound

October 20, 2020 — Oregon crabbers had landed 20.07 million pounds of Dungeness as of August. Ex-vessel price negotiations and meat fill issues delayed the opening of the season until Dec. 31. And like other fisheries, the arrival of covid-19 put the stops on product flow to preferred markets.

As for the resource, the good times continue to roll for the crabbers. Based on average ex-vessel prices of $3.64 per pound this year’s revenues crunch out to $73.06 million. According to data from PacFIN, the Oregon fleet averaged $3.58 per pound for revenues of $66.7 million in the 2019 season.

Elsewhere along the West Coast, California fleets posted landings of 8.37 million pounds for revenues of $30.09 million, and Washington’s production hit 10.93 million pounds (no ex-vessel revenue available), according to data from PacFIN.

Though Oregon crabbers received an average $3.64 per pound for the entire season, some buyers drove high-end offers to $6.28 per pound in May.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Canadian DFO seizes more than 300 Dungeness crab traps, four vessels

October 5, 2020 — More than 300 Dungeness crab traps and four vessels were seized last month by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), who said they were illegally placed in American waters, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Canada’s Dungeness crab season begins at the end of July and the American season begins in December. Toward the end of the Canadian season, fishermen sometimes illegally place traps south of the border, risking fines or forfeiting their catch, to access the American crab stock which hasn’t been depleted over the course of a season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

OREGON: Crab industry, state continue plans to avoid whale entanglement

October 1, 2020 — New regulations for commercial Dungeness crab fishermen in Oregon aim to get boats on the water earlier in the season and reduce the amount of gear to avoid tangling with endangered whales.

The regulations, adopted in September, involve a number of key changes to how the fishery is managed, including a 20% reduction in the number of pots a permit holder is allowed to fish with later in the season.

The state is also tightening regulations around when fishermen can get replacement tags for gear reported as lost and lowering requirements for how full of meat crabs must be along the southern coast in order for the season to open.

The late-season gear reduction will be in place for the next three seasons. Fishery managers will evaluate how effective this measure is at reducing the risk of whale entanglement while still enabling an economically viable fishery.

Read the full story at The Astorian

Sen. Cantwell Criticizes “Slow and Inefficient” Implementation of Fishery Disaster Relief Funding, Calls for Streamlining Process

July 30, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Today at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the top Democrat on the committee, highlighted the devastating impacts COVID-19 has had on the seafood sector and called for a streamlining of the fishery disaster process, criticizing the “slow and inefficient and cumbersome implementation” of fishery disaster relief by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service.

The fisheries sector makes up 60 percent of Washington state’s 30 billion dollar maritime economy, which supports over 146,000 jobs. In her opening statement, Cantwell discussed how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the seafood industry, resulting in a decrease of $21 million in revenue for West coast fisheries—a 40 percent decline compared to the previous five-year average. In January alone, Washington Dungeness crab fishery saw a 37 percent decline in revenue from the previous year. Overall, U.S. seafood sales have dropped an estimated 95 percent this year.

“Despite this staggering economic data, many fishermen have not been able to access the COVID relief funding from the Paycheck Protection Program, the Main Street Lending Program, or even qualify for unemployment based on the nature of their businesses and tax structures,” Senator Cantwell said. “USDA food purchase programs have not been able to provide the support for most seafood products, and some USDA programs, including the Farmers to Families Box Program, specifically block wild caught seafood from eligibility to the program, another blow to the industry.”

“That is why I fought so hard to secure $300 million dollars for the seafood sector in the form of grants and other assistance in the CARES Act to address the loophole. Unfortunately, the industry has yet to see a single dollar of relief due to a slow and inefficient and cumbersome implementation through NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service.”

At the hearing, Cantwell also highlighted legislation she introduced with Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) that would streamline the fishery disaster process. “While this bill was written before COVID, it is clear even now…that this is an important aspect of what we need to be doing,” Senator Cantwell said.

Senator Cantwell has been a long-time leading advocate for fishing communities and sustainable fisheries management. In March, Cantwell secured $300 million in economic relief for fishermen suffering from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including $50 million for Washington fishermen, from the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In May, Cantwell successfully ensured the release of more than $8.4 million in fishery disaster funds to Washington state communities and Tribes. Cantwell has advocated for reforms to the fisheries disaster process to ensure that small business charter fisherman are included in the Disaster Relief Recovery Act, and throughout her time in the Senate Cantwell has worked with her colleagues to help securefunding for fishing communities impacted by federally-declared disasters.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s opening statement can be found HERE and audio HERE.

Video of Senator Cantwell’s Q&A with witnesses can be found HERE and audio HERE.

New technology promises to save the whales by reducing the need for crab fishing lines.

July 16, 2020 — After a slightly better year in 2017, the number of whales getting entangled in fishing gear has gone back up, according to a new report from the National Marine Fisheries Service. Researchers confirmed 105 whale entanglements nationwide in 2018, the latest year for which data is available, noting the number is “much higher” than average.

These findings come as a possible solution emerges out of a collaboration being led by Monterey Bay conservationists, fishermen and fishing gear designers.

On the Pacific coast, whales pass through stretches of ocean that are important for Dungeness crab fishing and they sometimes get caught in lines connecting traps on the ocean floor to buoys at the surface. Technology that is under development would all but eliminate vertical lines and buoys. Using ropeless or pop-up innovations, these new crab traps would sit idly on the ocean floor until receiving an acoustic signal from the fisherman. Only then would the trap release a rope and buoy to the surface.

“We are working with fishermen to see what works and what doesn’t and what allows the fisherman to survive economically,” says Geoff Shester, a Monterey-based scientist with nonprofit Oceana. “The Monterey Bay is the epicenter of the whale entanglement issue.”

Read the full story at Monterey County Now

New rules for California Dungeness crab fleet seek fewer whale entanglements

May 18, 2020 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife on Friday unveiled a batch of complex new rules designed to reduce the risk to endangered whales and sea turtles of becoming entangled in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear.

The draft regulations are set to be finalized before the next commercial season starts in November after a period of public review.

They expand on a framework established under a legal settlement reached last year that allows for the state’s $60-million-a-year crab fishery to be delayed or closed when surveys and other observations suggest a high risk of concentrated fishing gear and marine life overlapping in the same place. The new rules are meant to allow more nuanced risk assessment and precise management actions rather than the closure of large swaths of ocean, as seen in recent seasons.

Among the provisions are options to restrict fishing in certain depths, require crabbers to set only a share of the traps for which they’re permitted or limit intervention to any of six newly established geographic zones, rather than the larger Northern and Central California management districts that currently exist.

Read the full story at The Press Democrat