February 1, 2017 — A long-awaited declaration by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker defines the 2015 to 2016 California Dungeness crab season as a fishery failure.
A Jan. 18 press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) states that under fishery management laws, the secretary of commerce can make the declaration “due to a fishery resource disaster.”
That opens the door for – but does not guarantee – congressional approval of disaster relief funding.
“If Congress appropriates funds to address these fishery failures, NOAA will work closely with members of Congress … to develop a spending plan to support activities that would restore the fishery, prevent a similar failure, and assist affected communities,” the release states.
Last year’s season was delayed by several months due to the presence of domoic acid, a naturally-produced toxin related to algae blooms.
The Dungeness season’s off-the-boat crab landings revenue amounted to $37.6 million, far less than the $60 million or so that each season has yielded in recent years. If the revenue loss had equated to 80 percent of an average season’s total, a disaster declaration would have been automatic.