April 8, 2025 — California is closing dungeness crab fisheries along Monterey County and the Central Coast to protect migrating humpback whales. According to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the goal is to keep humpbacks from getting entangled in crab gear as they return to feed along the coast.
Starting April 15, commercial dungeness crab fishing will be banned from Santa Cruz County to the Mexico border. Recreational crab traps will also be restricted in Monterey County.
March 31, 2025 — In the Pacific Northwest, Dungeness crab is a crucial fishery that supports so many fishermen. As ocean conditions shift, researchers in Washington are working to understand how these changes impact one of the region’s most valuable catches.
According to a recent report by King 5 News, a team of scientists from NOAA and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is closely monitoring Dungeness crab populations in Puget Sound. Using a combination of tracking technology and environmental analysis, the researchers aim to gather critical data on how factors like ocean acidification and warming waters affect the species.
March 24, 2025 — Researchers are waging a quiet battle in the Pacific Northwest to protect one of the region’s most iconic species — the Dungeness crab.
Using light traps, scientists at the MaST Center Aquarium in Des Moines are gathering data that could help safeguard the future of Washington’s most valuable wild-caught fishery.
The study aims to fill in gaps in the biological data on Dungeness crabs. Researchers hope by monitoring the early stages of their development, they can better predict crab populations and avert crises like the one that closed the fishery in South Puget Sound a few years ago.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, tribal and recreational crabbing plummeted in South Puget Sound in the last 15 years, dropping from 214,404 pounds harvested in 2012 to only 8,679 pounds in 2017.
“That was a big wake-up call for fisheries, co-managers, and part of the reason the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG) formed,” said Ally Galiotto, Puget Sound Restoration Fund. “We still don’t know exactly what happened. It’s a sobering reality that sudden drops in population could happen elsewhere, and we won’t necessarily know why or when they will happen.”
To capture crab larvae, a light trap is deployed from docks in Washington and British Columbia. Each trap consists of a transparent bucket with an LED light strip that activates at night. The light mimics moonlight, drawing in the larvae, while a funnel prevents larger creatures from entering the trap. Once the larvae are captured, the samples are sifted, counted, and analyzed before being returned to the water.
February 28, 2025 — Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery is under increasing pressure to address whale entanglements after a record-breaking four incidents in 2024, including one as recently as January 6th.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has issued an advisory to crabbers, urging them to be vigilant and avoid setting gear in areas where whales are transiting or foraging; however, conservation groups like Oceana, a leading ocean conservation organization, criticized the advisory as inadequate and the voluntary measures are insufficient and they are calling for stronger, more decisive action.
February 20, 2025 — Would Santa Cruz still be Santa Cruz without a fishing industry? After nine rocky years of delayed, shortened and outright canceled fishing seasons, the coastal community could soon have to face a cultural reckoning as the number of commercial fishing boats active in the Santa Cruz Harbor dwindles to fewer than 20.
For generations, fishers along California’s Central Coast have relied on two primary catches to make their living: Dungeness crab in the winter and Chinook salmon in the summer.
But over the past nine years, this traditional rhythm has been disrupted by a cascade of environmental challenges. Migrating whales are lingering in crabbing areas longer, contributing to delayed seasons and reduced catch limits, while droughts and fluctuating river levels have decimated salmon populations.
The impact on Santa Cruz County’s commercial fishers has been profound. The state’s salmon fishery has been closed since 2023, with little sign of recovery, while the crab season has been shortened and restricted for the past six years.
February 19, 2025 — Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab catch is down so far this season but the price fishermen are getting for their catch is buoying the fleet’s spreadsheets.
“The volume is down but the price has been really good so the actual money to the boats is still up there,” said Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s state fishery manager Troy Buell.
Last year at this time approximately 17½ million pounds had been landed for a price paid to fishermen of about $63 million.
“This year we’ve got just under 14 million pounds, but the total revenue to the boats is actually better at over $83 million,” Buell said.
The structure of this season’s opening was staggered to allow crab in Oregon’s northern waters to better fill out with meat. The opening was not exactly the same as last year’s staggered opening, but close enough to make a comparison.
The season, which can open as early as Dec. 1, was delayed until Dec. 16 from the California border to Cape Falcon near Manzanita. Cape Falcon north to the Washington border opened Jan. 7.
February 11, 2025 — Fishery regulators in the U.S. state of Washington are considering changing the rules for its commercial Dungeness crab fisheries in an attempt to further reduce risks of whale entanglements.
The vertical lines used in American pot fisheries, including Dungeness crab fisheries, risk entangling endangered whale populations, including humpback whales on the U.S. West Coast.
February 10, 2025 — It was a calm January morning, the waters off Bodega Bay unusually smooth, but crab fisherman Dick Ogg couldn’t shake a grim feeling that the day wouldn’t go his way.
The Dungeness crab season had opened just a few weeks earlier — two months behind schedule — and was off to a slow start. “We’re working very hard to basically get nothing,” said Ogg.
The anemic hauls so early in the season mark the latest setback for California’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery, a roughly $45-million-a-year industry that delivers one of the state’s most iconic culinary delights.
The industry’s future has been complicated by another celebrated sea creature: Each year, a number of humpback whales migrating through California’s waters to and from tropical breeding grounds get entangled in commercial crab fishing gear, encounters that often end in mutilation or death. State regulators are intent on lowering the chances of whales coming into contact with the gear.
There’s reason to be concerned.
Since 1970, when the federal government listed humpback whales as “endangered” after they were hunted to near extinction, the population has made a fragile comeback. Whales along the West Coast have recovered at an estimated annual rate of 8.2% since the 1980s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with more than 4,500 humpback whales now feeding off California’s coast.
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.
February 5, 2025 — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has officially commenced the state’s coastal commercial Dungeness crab season, following detailed test fishing and data analysis. Commercial fishers cast their pots in the waters stretching from Klipsan Beach on the Long Beach Peninsula down to Cape Falcon in Oregon, as of January 15, 2025. The much-anticipated crabbing also includes the Columbia River and Willapa Bay regions, while the remaining portion of the season, from Klipsan Beach to the U.S.-Canada border and encompassing Grays Harbor, kicks off on February 11, as reported by the WDFW website.
The coordination for the season’s launch is a tri-state affair, with Washington, Oregon, and California fisheries departments working together under an agreement from the 1990s that aims for cooperative management of the Dungeness crab fishery across the West Coast. The agreement outlines potential season openings as early as December 1, with actual dates hinging on the health and condition of the crabs, determined through careful test fishing. Biologists and scientific technicians from WDFW have boarded commercial vessels to collect and measure crabs, ensuring that they achieve a threshold of 23% meat recovery before officially declaring a season opener, which signifies the crabs’ readiness for the market both in terms of quantity and quality.
According to a test fishing trip out of Westport, WDFW coastal shellfish technician Clayton Parson said, “Once you hit that 23% mark, the crabs are improving every day and are ready to be harvested.” This benchmark is crucial considering the Dungeness crab’s economic significance; for instance, the 2023–24 coastal commercial season brought in $66.8 million for the state, as per the WDFW Medium article. Testament to the industry’s value is the record-setting $88.2 million from the 2021–22 season.
Read the full article at Hoodline