April 24, 2018 — Harmful algal blooms complicated commercial Dungeness crab seasons on the Oregon Coast for the past three seasons, threatening the viability of the state’s most valuable fishery.

Now fishery managers and industry representatives hope new rules will allow more flexibility for where and how fishing closures occur when toxin levels spike, as well as improve the state’s ability to track contaminated crab through the seafood market.

Traceability measures were put in place on a temporary basis last December. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission made the rules permanent at a meeting Friday in Astoria. The five commissioners present all voted in favor of adopting the new rules, though Commissioner Bruce Buckmaster of Astoria said he did not want to inadvertently penalize companies who already might have efficient tracking systems in place.

He supported the “intent and efforts” of the rules, though, saying, “It is of benefit to the fishing fleet, it’s a benefit to the processors.”

Representatives from West Coast seafood processing giant Pacific Seafood attended Friday’s meeting and had advocated for the ability to use the company’s existing electronic tracking system. They also did not want to have to track the date of crab landed under an evisceration order — when crab is sold with the guts removed. The company’s representatives said it could be difficult to provide these landing dates given the high volume of seafood the company handles and mixed lots with large date ranges that might be pulled out of storage.

Read the full story at the Daily Astorian