February 7, 2025 — The state’s 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 year’s 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.