Saving Seafood

WASHINGTON: Coastal Dungeness crab season kicks off after months of testing

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.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

OREGON: Oregon issues advisory to crab fleet amid rising whale entanglements

February 5, 2025 — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife issued an advisory to the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fleet, urging caution due to the risk of whale entanglements. The advisory follows a recent incident on January 6, when a humpback whale was reported entangled in crab gear, and comes after a record high of four whale entanglements in Oregon crab gear in 2024.

The department’s guidance, which is voluntary, advises the fleet to “remain vigilant and avoid setting gear in areas where whales are transiting or foraging to minimize risk of entanglement.” However, critics argue that these measures are insufficient.

Ben Enticknap, Oceana campaign director and senior scientist, said, “Advice to remain vigilant and keep tight lines is woefully insufficient to protect threatened and endangered whales from becoming fatally entangled in the Oregon commercial crab fishery.”

Enticknap emphasized the need for a more robust conservation plan, stating, “Oregon fish and wildlife managers must act swiftly and decisively to implement a conservation plan that reduces whale entanglements, not one that maintains the status quo.”

Read the full article at KVAL

Hydroelectric dams on Oregon’s Willamette River kill salmon. Congress says it’s time to consider shutting them down

January 16, 2025 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it could make hydroelectric dams on Oregon’s Willamette River safe for endangered salmon by building gigantic mechanical traps and hauling baby fish downstream in tanker trucks. The Corps started pressing forward over objections from fish advocates and power users who said the plan was costly and untested.

That was until this month, when President Joe Biden signed legislation ordering the Corps to put its plans on hold and consider a simpler solution: Stop using the dams for electricity.

The new law, finalized on Jan. 4, follows reporting from Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica in 2023 that underscored risks and costs associated with the Corps’ plan. The agency is projected to lose $700 million over 30 years generating hydropower, and a scientific review found that the type of fixes the Corps is proposing would not stop the extinction of threatened salmon.

The mandate says the Corps needs to shelve designs for its fish collectors — essentially massive floating vacuums expected to cost $170 million to $450 million each — until it finishes studying what the river system would look like without hydropower. The Corps must then include that scenario in its long-term designs for the river.

Read the full article at OPB

Microplastics found in many of Oregon’s most popular fish

January 10, 2025 — Microplastics — tiny synthetic particles shed from clothing, packaging and other sources — are prevalent in many of the fish species eaten in Oregon, per a new study.

Why it matters: Ingestion of microplastics has been linked to cardiovascular risks and other adverse health impacts.

Driving the news: Researchers at Portland State University looked to quantify how many microplastic particles were making their way into the edible tissues of commonly eaten fish in Oregon.

Read the full article at AXIOS

US West Coast governors seek financial relief for albacore fishers

January 3, 2024 — The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington have asked the U.S. federal government to provide financial aid for the states’ struggling commercial West Coast Pacific albacore troll/hook-and-line fishery.

Last year was the fishery’s worst performing season in 30 years, California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a recent statement. The fishery generated USD 9.5 million (EUR 9.3 million) in ex-vessel value in 2024, notably lower than the five-year average of USD 24.6 million (EUR 24 million).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

West Coast Dungeness fleets navigate changes, delays

December 11, 2024 — While California’s Dungeness crab fleet waits for delayed waters to open, Washington and Oregon fishermen have geared up for their 2024-2025 seasons under familiar pressures of conservation and commerce. With winter crabbing generally in full swing, balancing marine sustainability with vital economic returns is the focus.

In Washington, the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) emphasizes its regulatory approach to protecting marine mammals, citing updates from previous seasons as a foundation for the current year. Measures to reduce entanglement risk remain crucial, with state and tribal co-managers collaborating to meet conservation goals while supporting fishermen. WDFW published a Dungeness Crab Newsletter to go over a report of the 2023- 2024 season and new regulations for this year. Other sources have shared that the Washington Dungeness season will be delayed until the end of 2024.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Dungeness crab season cancelled for remainder of 2024 in California, Washington

December 10, 2024 — Fisheries regulators on the West Coast are further delaying the opening of their states’ respective commercial Dungeness crab seasons due to the presence of humpback whales and low meat quality, with all but a small portion of Oregon’s coast unlikely to open before the end of the year.

On 6 December, the state of California announced it was delaying the start of the commercial crab season for a third time this year, citing the continued presence of blue and humpback whales in the area. The season was initially slated to open on 15 November.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab season opening date set

December 9, 2024 — Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery will open on Dec. 16 from Cape Falcon south to the California border.

The commercial fleet can begin setting baited crab pots in the water in this area on Dec. 13.

Areas north of Cape Falcon will remain closed until at least Dec. 31 due to low meat yields. The season will open in coordination with southern Washington state.

On Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife ordered another delay in that state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishing season — the third so far this year.

Read the full story at The Oregonian

OREGON: Oregon’s Dungeness crab season pushed

November 22, 2024 — Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab season is delayed coastwide until at least Dec. 16, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced yesterday. Pre-season testing shows that Dungeness crabs are too low in meat yield in some ocean areas and have elevated domoic acid in crab viscera (guts) in two areas on the south coast.

Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season, targeted to open Dec. 1, can be delayed so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted.

The commercial bay crab fishery (currently open from Cape Blanco to the Washington border) closes at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 1 in conjunction with the delayed ocean commercial season. The commercial bay crab season runs through Dec. 31 but will only reopen in December if the ocean commercial season does so.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Salmon return to lay eggs in historic habitat after largest dam removal project in US history

November 18, 2024 — A giant female Chinook salmon flips on her side in the shallow water and wriggles wildly, using her tail to carve out a nest in the riverbed as her body glistens in the sunlight. In another moment, males butt into each other as they jockey for a good position to fertilize eggs.

These are scenes local tribes have dreamed of seeing for decades as they fought to bring down four hydroelectric dams blocking passage for struggling salmon along more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) of the Klamath River and its tributaries along the Oregon-California border.

Now, less than a month after those dams came down in the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, salmon are once more returning to spawn in cool creeks that have been cut off to them for generations. Video shot by the Yurok Tribe show that hundreds of salmon have made it to tributaries between the former Iron Gate and Copco dams, a hopeful sign for the newly freed waterway.

“Seeing salmon spawning above the former dams fills my heart,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “Our salmon are coming home. Klamath Basin tribes fought for decades to make this day a reality because our future generations deserve to inherit a healthier river from the headwaters to the sea.”

The Klamath River flows from its headwaters in southern Oregon and across the mountainous forests of northern California before it reaches the Pacific Ocean

Read the full article at The Associated Press