April 11, 2025 โ State regulators in Washington have approved a new line marking rule for traps used in the stateโs Dungeness crab fishery in the hopes of reducing the risk vertical lines pose to whales.
โThese proposed regulations are instrumental in advancing conservation efforts around whale entanglements,โ Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Coastal Marine Fisheries Whale Entanglement Coordinator Megan Hintz said in February, when the changes were first proposed.
April 7, 2025 โ Another day, another Washington state industry caught in the trade crossfire between the U.S. and much of the rest of the world.
On Friday, farmers, seafood companies and other food makers in Washington were weighing potential damage after China announced 34% tariffs on U.S. exports, starting next Thursday, in retaliation for a new 34% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods announced Wednesday by President Donald Trump.
Though not unexpected, Chinaโs tariff tit-for-tat means yet more pain for trade-reliant Washington, which last year sold nearly $700 million in everything from beef and seafood to wheat and hay to China, the stateโs No. 4 export market for agricultural goods and seafood.
โItโs just unprecedented, whatโs happening,โ said Mark Anderson of Ellensburg-based Anderson Hay, which sells 70% of its crop overseas, including in China, of the latest tariffs. โAnd the more you dive into the details, the scarier the consequences are, because theyโre all unknown.โ
April 3, 2025 โ Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Washington have proposed a USD 5 billion (EUR 4.6 billion) plan for removing or replacing culverts in the state to open up historic salmon spawning habitat.
The plan is a response to the stateโs decade-long efforts to comply with a 2013 federal court order that found the stateโs culverts blocked salmon and steelhead trout migration, violating Tribal rights.
March 31, 2025 โ In the Pacific Northwest, Dungeness crab is a crucial fishery that supports so many fishermen. As ocean conditions shift, researchers in Washington are working to understand how these changes impact one of the regionโs most valuable catches.
According to a recent report by King 5 News, a team of scientists from NOAA and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is closely monitoring Dungeness crab populations in Puget Sound. Using a combination of tracking technology and environmental analysis, the researchers aim to gather critical data on how factors like ocean acidification and warming waters affect the species.
March 13, 2025 โ The Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA) has sued the U.S. state of Washingtonโs Department of Natural Resources over a recently finalized rule banning net pen aquaculture.
The lawsuit comes after the department approved a rule banning finfish farming in state waters, codifying a ban that had been implemented unilaterally by Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz in 2022. A court ultimately ruled that the executive order had โno legal effectโ and was simply the beginning of a rulemaking process. Following the court ruling, Franz worked to complete the rulemaking process to codify the ban, and in January 2025 the State Board of Natural Resources voted to finalize the rule.
March 3, 2025 โ A Washington aquaculture nonprofit is suing the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over its recent ban on net pen fish farming on state-owned aquatic lands in Washington.
The lawsuit, filed on Feb. 27 in Thurston County Superior Court, was brought forth by the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance. It alleges the state agencyโs rulemaking process was โpredetermined and inadequate,โ the lawsuit states.
Net pens are large floating structures where fish or seafood are grown and have been used in the Salish Sea for four decades. In January, the DNR banned the use of commercial net pens in state waters and said the ban would help protect Puget Sound waterways.
With the ban, the lawsuit claims DNR failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act, violated the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and created arbitrary rules.
โDNR does not have unfettered authority to regulate aquaculture,โ the lawsuit states.
Northwest Aquaculture Alliance also claims DNRโs ban harms its members by reducing or fully eliminating business opportunities.
February 26, 2025 โ An imposter stole a fishing vessel โ with the crew still on board โ from a dock in Westport, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Police.
WDFW Sergeant Alexander was reportedly patrolling in Westport when he โheard a radio call for a vehicle theft in progress; not the usual car or motorcycle theft, but an eight-million-dollar, 80-foot commercial fishing vessel, the Jamie Marie.โ
According to police, the imposter had boarded the boat, awoken the crew, and informed them that they needed to get underway. The newer crew who didnโt know the captain didnโt argue, thinking he was perhaps an alternate operator or sent by the real captain.
February 11, 2025 โ Fishery regulators in the U.S. state of Washington are considering changing the rules for its commercial Dungeness crab fisheries in an attempt to further reduce risks of whale entanglements.
The vertical lines used in American pot fisheries, including Dungeness crab fisheries, risk entangling endangered whale populations, including humpback whales on the U.S. West Coast.
February 7, 2025 โ The stateโs coastal commercial Dungeness crab season is underway, following months of test fishing and data gathering by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
This yearโs season opened Jan. 15 from Klipsan Beach on the Long Beach Peninsula south to Cape Falcon, Ore., including the Columbia River and Willapa Bay, and will start Feb. 11 from Klipsan Beach north to the U.S.-Canada border, including Grays Harbor, according to a news release from WDFW.
The Washington, Oregon and California fish and wildlife departments decide season openers each year as part of a tri-state agreement signed in the 1990s to cooperatively manage the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery. Per the agreement, the season can open as early as Dec. 1, but opening dates vary and are based on test fishing to determine crab condition.
Over the fall and early winter, WDFW biologists and scientific technicians collected and measured crabs aboard commercial fishing vessels the Department contracts with for test fishing. They also observed seafood processing plants as workers picked out and packed crab meat.
February 5, 2025 โ The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has officially commenced the stateโs coastal commercial Dungeness crab season, following detailed test fishing and data analysis. Commercial fishers cast their pots in the waters stretching from Klipsan Beach on the Long Beach Peninsula down to Cape Falcon in Oregon, as of January 15, 2025. The much-anticipated crabbing also includes the Columbia River and Willapa Bay regions, while the remaining portion of the season, from Klipsan Beach to the U.S.-Canada border and encompassing Grays Harbor, kicks off on February 11, as reported by the WDFW website.
The coordination for the seasonโs launch is a tri-state affair, with Washington, Oregon, and California fisheries departments working together under an agreement from the 1990s that aims for cooperative management of the Dungeness crab fishery across the West Coast. The agreement outlines potential season openings as early as December 1, with actual dates hinging on the health and condition of the crabs, determined through careful test fishing. Biologists and scientific technicians from WDFW have boarded commercial vessels to collect and measure crabs, ensuring that they achieve a threshold of 23% meat recovery before officially declaring a season opener, which signifies the crabsโ readiness for the market both in terms of quantity and quality.
According to a test fishing trip out of Westport, WDFW coastal shellfish technician Clayton Parson said, โOnce you hit that 23% mark, the crabs are improving every day and are ready to be harvested.โ This benchmark is crucial considering the Dungeness crabโs economic significance; for instance, the 2023โ24 coastal commercial season brought in $66.8 million for the state, as per the WDFW Medium article. Testament to the industryโs value is the record-setting $88.2 million from the 2021โ22 season.
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