crab – Fishermens News

CDFW Delays Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Season Opener

1Nov

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CDFW Delays Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Season Opener

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has said that it expects an assessment by Nov. 17 re-evaluating risks to humpback whales in the area of a Dungeness crab fishery before setting a new date for the fishery opener, which was previously set for Nov. 15. For now, the opening date of the Dungeness crab fishery south of the Sonoma-Mendocino County line remains uncertain. According to CDFW, the risk assessment is expected to inform the potential for a statewide commercial fishery opener on Dec. 1 and the potential as well to modify the recreational trap restriction. The commercial Dungeness crab fishery south of the Sonoma-Mendocino County line had been scheduled to open Nov. 15 in fishing Zones 3, 4, 5, and 6. CDFW also announced a temporary crab trap restriction in the re...

1Feb

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Crab Scientists Plan More Direct Research, Tagging This Year

Two research scientists with extensive backgrounds in crab fisheries said last week that they’re bent on unlocking new information in the coming months to help better track the future for Alaska king crab and snow crab fisheries currently foundering in a multi-million-dollar collapse. Research plans for 2023 call for a range of activities from satellite tagging at density centers to pot lifts and more collaboration with the crab industry, said Scott Goodman, executive director of the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation (BSFRF), and president of Natural Resources Consultants in Seattle. The volatile Bering Sea crab fisheries, with a history of highs and lows, are currently for the most part in collapse. They peaked with a 130-million-pound red king crab harvest in 1980, then close...

Kodiak Stand-Down Continues Over Tanner Crab Price Offer

25Jan

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Kodiak Stand-Down Continues Over Tanner Crab Price Offer

A harvester stand-down continues in Kodiak, Alaska over the price offered by processors there for the Tanner crab season that opened Jan. 15. Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative (KCAC) spokesman Kevin Abena, skipper of the f/v Big Blue, said the Cooperative did not meet on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 22, with its permit holder members. Abena said 130 permit holders whom KCAC represents don’t feel they should go fishing at the $2.50 a pound offer from Kodiak processors. Last year, Kodiak processors paid up to $8.40 a pound for the Tanners. This year’s quota for the Kodiak area Tanner crag fishery is 5.8 million pounds. Abena said that KCAC went back to Kodiak processors on Saturday, Jan. 21, with two options: a base price of $3.25 a pound plus matching a final settlement on the price o...

Low Price Prompts Kodiak District Crabbers to Stand Down from Tanner Crab Fishery

18Jan

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Low Price Prompts Kodiak District Crabbers to Stand Down from Tanner Crab Fishery

Harvesters standing down from Tanner crab fisheries because of a $2.50 a pound offer from Kodiak processors say the earliest they could go fishing would be noon on Sunday, Jan. 22, if they get a reasonable price offer. Kevin Abena, secretary and treasurer of the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative, said that as of Monday, Jan. 16, Alaska Pacific Seafoods and OBI Seafoods, the latter representing Ocean Beauty and Icicle, had upped their offer from $2.50 a pound to $3 a pound. Members of the cooperative are holding out for a higher price. Last year, Tanner crab harvesters were paid $8.30 a pound in Kodiak in the wake of the 2021 fishery, which was cancelled. Fishermen at King Cove and Sand Point were continuing negotiations with Peter Pan Seafoods. Abena said it’s the right decision for t...

Alaska Seeks Federal Disaster Declaration for Crab Fisheries

26Oct

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Alaska Seeks Federal Disaster Declaration for Crab Fisheries

Alaska officials are seeking a federal fisheries disaster declaration for the 2022-23 Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said on Tuesday, Oct. 25 that he also has asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to expedite a disaster determine for the 2021-22 red king crab fishery. Dunleavy’s plea to the Commerce Department said information available to him indicated that both crab stock declines were a result of natural causes linked to warming ocean temperatures. The fisheries industry and affected communities in Alaska will need economic relief, he said. Alaska’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, has also urged aid for the crab industry, in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and House Appr...

Oregon Dungeness Crab Industry Public Meeting Set for Today, Oct. 19

19Oct

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Oregon Dungeness Crab Industry Public Meeting Set for Today, Oct. 19

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Resources Division will hold its Oregon Dungeness Crab Industry Public meeting today, Oct. 19, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the North Bend Public Library in North Bend, Oregon. Everyone is welcome to join the meeting in person or virtually via computer or by mobile app at https://tinyur.com/CrabMeet2022, via Microsoft Teams by entering meeting ID:285971280551, Passcode: 4BCCeD or by calling (audio only) 1-503-446-4951 and entering phone conference ID:26462035#. From 1:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. the meeting is expected focus on marine life entanglement, beginning with presentation of the conservation plan and an incidental take permit status update, including planned upcoming changes, advisory group status and a three-year evaluation of ri...

Alaska Legislature Passes Mariculture Enhancement Bill

18May

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Alaska Legislature Passes Mariculture Enhancement Bill

Mariculture enhancement legislation has passed both houses of the Alaska Legislature, lifting the hopes of shellfish researchers for a future in which hatchery production of juvenile king crab would boost stocks to a sustainable commercial level. House Bill 41, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan, creates a regulatory framework with which the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) can manage shellfish enhancement projects and outlines criteria for the issuance of permits. It sets out stringent safety standards to ensure sustainability and health of existing natural stocks. ADF&G Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang must also make a determination of substantial public benefit before the project can proceed. HB 41 also allows the ADF&G to set the application fee f...