Saving Seafood

‘Ropeless’ fishing gear nets crabs without whale entanglements

September 3, 2024 — A three-month trial of whale-friendly “ropeless” fishing gear off central California resulted in a 229,000-pound harvest of Dungeness crabs valued at $1.6 million with zero whale entanglements, according to results released Friday.

The study was the most extensive field test to date of the gear, which avoids entanglement risk by storing a crab trap’s vertical line and buoy on the ocean floor until a fisherman sends an acoustic “pop-up” signal releasing the gear.

Nineteen commercial crab fishermen participated in the trial that deployed pop-up gear systems under an experimental fishing permit issued by the California Fish and Game Commission. The central coast Dungeness crab fishery has been closed for five years after regulators found increased entanglement risk for both whales and sea turtles in the lines and buoys of conventional crab gear.

Read the full article at E&E News

After Years Of Delays, California Dungeness Crab Fishery Opening On Dec. 1

November 29, 2021 — Dungeness crab is a common Christmas delicacy in the Pacific Northwest. However, for the past several years, the fishery’s opening has been delayed due to variety of factors, including migrating whales becoming ensnared in crab traps and toxic domoic acid (from algae blooms) rendering the crab meat unsafe for human consumption. But, this year, it will open on December 1, as it traditionally has for several years prior to the onset of climate change and other human impacts.

As oceans warm, whales desired prey items – like krill – are fewer and far between. This causes whales to wander more to feed themselves and increases the likelihood that they’ll get snagged on fishing gear. Thus, crab fishermen must deploy their gear after whales have passed through the region.

Climate change has not only delayed Dungeness crab fishing on the U.S. west coast, it has also truncated the season by more than half its usual length, from seven to three months long. This also means that the window to earn a livable wage is also shrinking, causing fishermen to take more risks and be out on the water longer.

Read the full story at Forbes

Pacific Dungeness: Live buyers are back, frozen stocks down before peak U.S. sales time

October 7, 2021 — West Coast Dungeness crabbers got off to a late start after price negotiations with major processors delayed the harvest by a few weeks. As of Aug. 25, the fleet had put in 28.15 million pounds, and better yet, average ex-vessel prices hit $4.96 per pound, according to data with PacFIN.

Crabbers in January went fishing after agreeing to a base price of $2.75 per pound.

Though the final harvest numbers and the ex-vessel values for the season will take a few months to catch up (the season closed Aug. 15), the 2021 season brought hope to a fleet after the covid-19 pandemic hobbled markets in 2020.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Veterans Become Budding Marine Scientists through Washington Internship Program

November 8, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In the Puget Sound region of Washington, Kate Rovinski helps study Dungeness crabs at NOAA’s Mukilteo Research Station, part of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. The crabs are the target of a valuable West Coast fishery at high risk to the effects of ocean acidification. Rovinski got started in the lab through a promising new pathway for veterans in marine science: the NOAA Washington Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Conservation Corps Internship Program.

The internship program allows veterans to be part of marine science research teams. Work includes both lab and field experiences in a range of disciplines related to the health of Puget Sound, including salmon recovery and ocean acidification.

Field work in particular can provide the veterans with valuable “ecotherapy”—referring to the therapeutic benefits of interacting with nature. Ecotherapy can help veterans who are experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome, or who are transitioning back to their communities following military service.

Rovinski is one of a number of veterans who have completed the internship. Many graduates of the program go on to work in fisheries with local tribes or to study marine science in graduate school. Rovinski didn’t have much field experience when she applied, but volunteer experience at a salmon hatchery and as an educator deckhand on the Schooner Adventuress made a difference.

“Don’t let perceived lack of experience hold you back from applying if you’re passionate about conservation, especially if ecotherapy resonates with you,” said Rovinski. She encourages veterans who have a strong interest in the marine environment to consider the opportunity.

Read the full release here

West Coast fishermen are suing oil companies for climate change damages

December 5, 2018 — Fishermen are still waiting for permission to catch Dungeness crabs off California’s northernmost coast this season — and they want oil companies to pay for the delay.

State officials have postponed the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season because of high levels of a neurotoxin called domoic acid. Similar closures have wreaked economic havoc on the industry in recent years.

he neurotoxin’s presence in the prized crabs has been linked to warming ocean waters, one of the many effects of human-caused climate change. That’s why the West Coast’s largest organization of commercial fishermen is suing more than a dozen oil companies, arguing they have knowingly peddled a product that threatens ocean life and the people whose economic fortunes depend on it.

The oil companies “engaged in a coordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their own knowledge of those threats, discredit the growing body of publicly available scientific evidence, and persistently create doubt,” the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns. said in its lawsuit, filed last month.

“Families and businesses that depend on the health and productivity of the Dungeness crab fishery to earn their livings suffer the consequences,” the federation said.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Industry, agencies working to avoid whale entanglements

November 14, 2018 — LONG BEACH, Calif. — Whale entanglements off the West Coast and potential solutions to the escalating problem are the focus of a new report including the presentations and observations of fishermen, biologists and fisheries managers who gathered at an August workshop.

In recent years, growing populations of humpback and gray whales, changing ocean conditions and prey locations, and later crab season openings have led to more whales getting entangled in fishing gear, such as the ropes and floats that mark the location of crab pots. In 2017 there were 31 confirmed entanglements off the West Coast, including two humpbacks and a gray whale off the Washington coast, according to a press release from NOAA Fisheries. While NOAA concedes these entanglements are still proportionally rare, they sometimes lead to the deaths of entangled whales, so both fishermen and fisheries managers are seeking solutions.

To understand how and where rope and other gear entangles whales and to find ways to address the problem, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) and NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region convened a two-day workshop in Long Beach, California, in August. This “forensic workshop” was also supported by The Marine Mammal Commission, Oregon Sea Grant, and the Aquarium of the Pacific. The report from the workshop is now available at tinyurl.com/whale-entanglement-report.

The report provides the notes and presentations from the 31 California, Oregon, and Washington experts who attended. Participating were Dungeness crab fishermen; gear specialists; marine mammal biologists and disentanglement specialists; conservation groups; and federal, tribal and state agency representatives.

Read the full story at the Chinook Observer

 

Alaska fishermen: Sea otter comeback is eating into profits

May 18, 2018 — ANCHORAGE, Alaska —  Northern sea otters, once hunted to the brink of extinction along Alaska’s Panhandle, have made a spectacular comeback by gobbling some of the state’s finest seafood – and fishermen are not happy about the competition.

Sea otters dive for red sea urchins, geoduck clams, sea cucumbers – delicacies in Asia markets – plus prized Dungeness crab. They then carry their meals to the surface and float on their backs as they eat, sometimes using rocks to crack open clams and crab. The furry marine mammals, which grow as large as 100 pounds (45 kilograms), eat the equivalent of a quarter of their weight each day.

Phil Doherty, head of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association, is working to save the livelihood of 200 southeast Alaska fishermen and a $10 million industry but faces an uphill struggle against an opponent that looks like a cuddly plush toy.

Fishermen have watched their harvest shrink as sea otters spread and colonize, Doherty said. Divers once annually harvested 6 million pounds (2.7 million kilograms) of red sea urchins. The recent quota has been less than 1 million pounds (454,000 kilograms).

“We’ve seen a multimillion-dollar fishery in sea urchins pretty much go away,” he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at WPXI

 

Washington: Some Puget Sound Tribal Dungeness Crab Fisheries Will Remain Closed This Year

May 14, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Thursday that two marine areas in south Puget Sound will not open for crab fishing this summer to allow Dungeness crab populations to rebuild.

Tribal commercial crab fisheries will remain closed in marine areas 11 (Tacoma/Vashon Island) and 13 (south Puget Sound) this summer. Recreational crab fisheries also will not open in those areas this year.

State and tribal co-managers are developing crabbing seasons for the rest of Puget Sound and plan to announce those later this month.

“We are still working on setting crab seasons but wanted to give people early notice about these closures, which is a change from previous years,” WDFW Puget Sound shellfish manager Bob Sizemore said in a press release. Sizemore said the department will continue working to structure fisheries in each Puget Sound region, but he does not anticipate closures similar to those in marine areas 11 and 13.

The populations of harvestable Dungeness crab are low in both areas 11 and 13, based on pre-season test fisheries, Sizemore said. Additionally, Dungeness crab harvests have fallen 88 percent in Marine Area 11 and 90 percent in Marine Area 13 since the 2014-15 season. Input from recreational crabbers also indicates support for the closures.

“We are taking this step to protect crab in these areas and allow the populations to rebuild,” Sizemore said.

Water currents can carry young crab long distances, making it possible for crab larvae from robust populations to settle and grow in areas 11 and 13, Sizemore said. But it can take several years for a newly settled Dungeness crab to grow and reach the minimum harvestable size of 6-¼ inches.

A variety of factors could be contributing to the declining population of crab in areas 11 and 13, Sizemore said. These include reduced survival of crab larvae, a higher-than-normal mortality rate for juvenile crab, or changing ocean conditions such as elevated surface water temperatures.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

CALIFORNIA: Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Law To Protect Whales From Crab Traps

September 28, 2016 — SAN FRANCISCO — California’s governor has signed legislation meant to reduce the surging number of whales getting caught in crabbing gear.

Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, announced Friday that he approved the bill to pay bounties to crabbers who retrieve lost or abandoned crab pots in the off-season and make the fishermen who lost the crabbing gear pay a fee.

There have been a record number of reported cases of whales getting caught by the ropes of traps set to catch Dungeness crabs. That led crabbing fishermen to join conservation groups in backing the legislation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at CBS San Francisco 

New rules for fishermen in growing Jonah crab business

May 5, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — Fishing regulators say there will be a new limit on how many Jonah crabs fishermen will be allowed to harvest.

East Coast fishermen’s catch of Jonah crabs has been growing in recent years as the crustacean grows in popularity.

They are used in processed products and as an alternative to the more expensive Dungeness and stone crabs.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the San Francisco Chronicle