Saving Seafood

Where Will the Whales Be? Ask the Climate Model.

December 5, 2023 — The opening of California’s commercial crab season, which normally starts in November, is delayed once again to protect humpback whales foraging for krill and anchovies along the coast.

This region of the Pacific has been under the grip of a marine heat wave since May. “The Blob,” as this mass of warm water has become known, is squeezing cooler water preferred by whales and their prey close to shore, where fishermen set their traps.

This crowding can lead to literal tangles between whales and fishing equipment, endangering the animals’ lives and requiring grueling rescue missions.

In a new study, scientists say they can now use global temperature models, commonly used in climate science, to predict up to a year in advance when hot ocean temperatures raise the risk of whale entanglements. This lead time could allow state regulators, fishermen, and other businesses that depend on the fishery — as well as Californians hoping for a Dungeness crab holiday meal — to plan ahead for potential fishing restrictions.

“It really just helps give a lot more information and reduce some of that uncertainty about the future,” said Steph Brodie, lead author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Dr. Brodie is currently a research scientist at Australia’s national science agency, but conducted this research while working at the University of California Santa Cruz and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the New York Times

OREGON: Commercial Dungeness crab season delayed due to low meat yield

November 21, 2023 — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says the commercial Dungeness crab season is being delayed at least until December 16.

According to ODFW, pre-season testing shows the crabs are too low in meat yield in some ocean areas.

The commercial bay crab fishery closes at midnight on December 1 in conjunction with the delayed open season.  ODFW says it will reopen when the ocean commercial season opens.

Read the full article at KOBI

California Dungeness opener pushed back again to mid-December

November 20, 2023 — The California commercial Dungeness crab fishery has been delayed a second time over the potential for humpback whale entanglements in gear, and poor meat quality in the northern fishing zones 1 and 2, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday.

The northern zones had been scheduled to open on Dec. 1 but testing turned up poor crab meat quality test results for Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties. The commercial fishery in zones 1 and 2 will be delayed until at least 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16 pending another round of meat quality testing, the agency said.

Meanwhile the commercial fishery in zones 3-6 remains delayed, “due to the presence of high numbers of humpback whales and the potential for entanglement with lines and traps in this fishery,” according to the department. Whale sightings and a reported entanglement Nov. 11 have already delayed the season, a recurring situation in recent years.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Oregon crabbers and environmentalists are at odds as a commission votes on rules to protect whales

August 4, 2023 — In the wheelhouse of a crab boat named Heidi Sue, Mike Pettis watched the gray whale surface and shoot water through its blowhole.

Tangled around its tail was a polypropylene rope used to pull up crab traps. It took two men with serrated knives 40 minutes to free the whale, which swam away with a small piece of rope still embedded in its skin. That was in 2004, off the waters of Waldport, Oregon.

Pettis, a crab fisherman, said it’s the only time in his 44 years of fishing he has ever seen a whale caught in crab lines, and he believes that is proof such encounters are “extremely rare.”

Pettis is among a number of veteran crabbers who fear regulators are on the cusp of curtailing the lucrative industry with overregulation to protect whales.

Humpbacks, which migrate off Oregon’s coast, and other whales can get caught in the vertical ropes connected to the heavy traps and drag them around for months, leaving the mammals injured, starved or so exhausted that they can drown.

Read the full article at the Washington Post

Pacific Seafood fights lawsuit accusing it of anticompetitive behavior in Dungeness crab market

July 27, 2023 — Clackamas, Oregon, U.S.A.-based Pacific Seafood is fighting back against a lawsuit alleging it has engaged in anti-competitive behavior in the U.S. West Coast Dungeness crab market.

Auburn, California, U.S.A.-based Dungeness fisherman Brand Little filed a class-action lawsuit in March 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Pacific, which is one of the largest players in the fishery, accusing it of price-fixing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: Oregon considering further Dungeness crab restrictions

July 16, 2023 — The U.S. state of Oregon is considering a handful of new restrictions on Dungeness crab fishermen – including a 20 percent reduction in pot limits – to reduce the risk of wildlife becoming entangled in crabbing gear.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is planning to host a meeting in Salem, Oregon, U.S.A. on 4 August to discuss the changes and evaluate the effectiveness of previously adopted measures.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALAKSA: “Stuffed” pots reported in middle of Alaska’s Bering Sea Dungeness crab season

July 1, 2023 — The Dungeness crab season in the eastern Bering Sea in the U.S. state of Alaska is reportedly going well as officials report crab pots “stuffed” with crab.

Historically, Alaska’s Dungeness crab fishery has been relatively small, and largely overshadowed by the red king crab fishery. In 2004, for example, harvesters caught 12.5 million pounds of red king crab worth USD 105 million (EUR 96 million), versus 3.2 million pounds, of Dungeness crab worth USD 11 million (EUR 10 million), according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: With prices low, many fishermen are skipping Southeast’s Dungeness crab season

June 27, 2023 — The Southeast Alaska Dungeness crab fishery opened on June 15. But roughly a quarter of the fleet in Petersburg is skipping the season. That’s partly because many of them are expecting low prices.

Two days before crabbing started, Petersburg fisherman Paul Menish was in the cabin of his boat, the Hi Nikki, speculating on crab prices.

“Sounds like prices aren’t going to be as low as we were quoted three weeks ago,” said Menish. “Now, it’s just rumors, but that the prices will be for Dungeness, will be in north at two dollars. Which isn’t a good price but better than three weeks ago.”

It turns out Menish was right.

When he sold his first load to OBI Seafoods in Petersburg, he said he got $2.10 a pound. That’s 50 cents lower than the starting price last summer.

Kevin Timm is the fleet manager at OBI Seafoods in Petersburg. He said the problem is that there’s still a lot of Dungeness crab left over from last year. He said it’s expensive and customers just aren’t buying it.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Crab pots ‘absolutely stuffed’ as Bering Sea Dungeness fishery breaks records

June 27, 2023 — While many Bering Sea crab populations are in freefall, Dungeness crab is breaking records in regions that hardly used to see them.

The North Peninsula District in the eastern Bering Sea opened as a commercial Dungeness fishery in the early ‘90s. In those early days, it was common for just one or two boats to fish there — many seasons, there were none.

The numbers increased modestly over the ensuing decades — but that growth has recently become exponential.

“The pots that we’re seeing coming out of this fishery are absolutely stuffed with crab,” said Ethan Nichols, who works for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Like, you don’t even know how many crabs can fit in a pot.”

Nichols is Fish and Game’s assistant area manager for groundfish and shellfish in Dutch Harbor. He said the fishery boomed last year and became the largest Dungeness crab fishery in Alaska — bringing in 35% of the state’s total Dungeness landings.

Read the full article at KTOO

The Case for Ropeless

June 27, 2023 — Allow me to touch a “third rail” of fisheries politics: Lobstermen, crabbers, and other fishermen currently in the crosshairs of environmental groups over whale entanglements need to get behind ropeless fishing technology. On-demand gear can keep you on the water when the presence of whales would otherwise trigger a closure, it’s not about admitting defeat but find opportunities to keep fishing.

Coming is the time when trap fisheries will face two options: start using ropeless gear, or lose significant chunks – if not all ­– of the fishing season. Resistance now will likely put many in a world of pain later.

Over the years I have participated in numerous fixed gear fisheries in the North Pacific. I have also written extensively on whale entanglements in West Coast Dungeness crab and in other fisheries here for National Fisherman and in other outlets. I often find myself as not only a bridge builder but also an antagonist.

I’m willing to call out the bad actors and misdeeds within the commercial fishing industry while also critical of the bad faith engagement and the reckless hyperbole some of the environmental organizations using both the courts and media to attack working-class fishermen. In this position I found myself resistant to ropeless fishing gear, seeing it as an unfounded and expensive proposition.

But over the past few years I have changed my mind. I now see ropeless as the best forward to save fisheries, whales, and the reputation of an industry currently facing a public relations crisis.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman