The North Coast is finally open to fishermen in the commercial Dungeness crab fishery.
The state announced Monday it would open this final section of the coast — an area that stretches from Cape Falcon near Arch Cape to the Columbia River — to commercial crabbing on Feb. 16.
The commercial Dungeness crab fishery will open Feb. 16 on the North Coast.
Washington state will also open its coastal Dungeness crab fishery; however, levels of the marine toxin domoic acid remain high in the viscera — the guts — of crab.
State fishery managers are requiring that crab harvested from Point Chehalis, Washington, to the Washington-Oregon border have the viscera removed by a licensed crab processor before they can be sold.
Crab tested in Oregon continue to be below alert levels.
The commercial Dungeness crab fishery, which traditionally begins Dec. 1, faced ongoing delays this season. Washington state saw high levels of domoic acid in crab meat, which held back Oregon's North Coast. When fishery managers opened the central and southern Oregon Coast in December, the fishery faced further setbacks as processors and fishermen haggled over a starting price.
Commercial crabbers did not begin dropping gear in Oregon until early January.
Oregon planned to coordinate an opening on the North Coast with Washington state, but Washington fishery managers continued to see unsafe levels of domoic acid in crabs. Oregon fishery managers contemplated a break with tradition to open the final section of the Oregon Coast without Washington by Feb. 15 at the latest if Washington’s numbers did not improve.
Crabbers landed just over 7.4 million pounds by early February, according to information from the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. Fishermen agreed to a starting price of $2.75 a pound in January. By the end of January, fishermen were seeing an average of $3.86 a pound, which jumped to around $6.10 by February.
According to the state, total ex-vessel value hit around $20 million in January. In recent years, a good Dungeness season has been between $50 million to $75 million, said Caren Braby, marine resources program manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Link LonkFebruary 10, 2021 at 02:16AM
https://ift.tt/3rHLWfZ
North Coast opens for commercial crab fishery | Local News | dailyastorian.com - Daily Astorian
https://ift.tt/2MkGRbk
Crab
No comments:
Post a Comment