On October 1st, in a public hearing room at the Natural Resources Building in Olympia, the 9-member Fish and Wildlife Commission took historic action, voting 7-2 to change the catch sharing allocation of Dungeness crab, between sport and commercial crabbers in Puget Sound.
From my corner, it was the conclusion of a process that began with a very contentious public hearing in Tumwater, five years ago, where Puget Sound commercial and sport crabbers took off the gloves in front of the Commission, arguing for a greater share of the annual crab catch. Tasked with setting policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Commission has been challenged in taking on this tough issue. Doing the right thing, the Commission, after years of debate and scrutiny, pulled the trigger to shift more of the Dungeness crab resource to the sport fishery.
One of the strong arguments from the commercial fishing industry included the lack of compliance to the crab fishing rules by sport crabbers. Undersized crabs, too many crabs, failure to record their catches, and the list goes on. They argued that why should the sport crab fishery be rewarded with more crab when the lack of compliance to the rules is unacceptable to the Department and the Commission. Good point.
Many of us in the sport fishing industry leadership intend to take the issue on, through accelerated education efforts that hopefully will reduce violations. My employer, for example, which produces the annual Seattle Boat Show in January, intends to feature promotions focusing on crab fishing opportunities and related fishing rules. There have been discussions about crab races with live crab, a large display tank with live crab and experts talking about crabbing and again, encouraging knowledge of the crab fishing regulations before going crabbing.
I think the crab race concept is pretty cool. Maybe crab riding Harley Davidson motorcycles around the show or parachuting out of airplanes over the Boat Show, landing perfectly in the live tank, only to live another day.
At last count, there were about 225,000 crab licenses issued by the Department for the privilege of crabbing in Puget Sound. If all of these license holders went crabbing at the same time, there would be nearly a half million crab pots (2 allowed per person) dropped into the Sound, with hopes of these yummy, highly sought shellfish, crawling into a pot.
The bottom line, when the new rules take effect in 2011, we need to know the crab fishing rules BEFORE we go crabbing. Since the 2011 rules and season do not come on line before early July, you’ve got lots of time to understand the rules and enlighten your fellow crabbers. It is up to us, to bring this violation rate down, as we are on probation with the Commission. They intend to review this issue again later next year, particularly after the summer season and I am on board to help with the education task.
While I have been writing in this column about the important decision by the Commission, it is critical to understand what the decision means for the crab sport fishery. The decision means all areas of Puget Sound, from Sekiu to Olympia will open in early July on a 5-day a week (including both weekend days) schedule through early September. It means that crabbing will re-open on or around October 1st through the end of the year, 7 days a week. South Puget Sound, currently, south of the Narrows Bridge, is the only area that has open Dungeness crab fishing, 7 days a week through January 2nd. Uh-oh, that’s right now! Does that mean I’m going crabbing today? Yep!
Next fall, when October, November and December roll around, crabbing will be open in all areas. So think ahead, don’t be in a hurry to winterize your boat at least until the end of December, if you want to pull on your crab gear and put a pinch of Dungeness between your cheek and gum. Works for me!
Fall has become one of my favorite times of year. We can’t do anything about the rain, especially hearing the forecasts of a strong La Nina trend until next spring. I’m having a blast down here in south Sound doing business with the Dungeness and, blackmouth season opens in north Puget Sound (Area 9) on the first. As I have written, which seems like forever in this column, I dig blackmouth fishing. Sure, I can gripe about the wet and cold as well as anybody, but at least I’m on the water, doing my thing and living outside here in the Pacific Northwest. The payoff comes when friends gather around the table, on a Friday or Saturday night helping me consume fresh chinook salmon, hot off the grill, accompanied by my favorite grape juice! Once again, works for me.
So, it’s November and I’m going outside, yes, with my Grunden’s rain gear, blackmouth fishing gear and a crab pot or two. And next Friday or Saturday night, you might want to join me and pull up a chair at my table, for some of Washington’s best fresh chinook salmon, sweet Dungeness and oh yeah, quality grape juice!
See you on the water!
From my corner, it was the conclusion of a process that began with a very contentious public hearing in Tumwater, five years ago, where Puget Sound commercial and sport crabbers took off the gloves in front of the Commission, arguing for a greater share of the annual crab catch. Tasked with setting policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Commission has been challenged in taking on this tough issue. Doing the right thing, the Commission, after years of debate and scrutiny, pulled the trigger to shift more of the Dungeness crab resource to the sport fishery.
One of the strong arguments from the commercial fishing industry included the lack of compliance to the crab fishing rules by sport crabbers. Undersized crabs, too many crabs, failure to record their catches, and the list goes on. They argued that why should the sport crab fishery be rewarded with more crab when the lack of compliance to the rules is unacceptable to the Department and the Commission. Good point.
Many of us in the sport fishing industry leadership intend to take the issue on, through accelerated education efforts that hopefully will reduce violations. My employer, for example, which produces the annual Seattle Boat Show in January, intends to feature promotions focusing on crab fishing opportunities and related fishing rules. There have been discussions about crab races with live crab, a large display tank with live crab and experts talking about crabbing and again, encouraging knowledge of the crab fishing regulations before going crabbing.
I think the crab race concept is pretty cool. Maybe crab riding Harley Davidson motorcycles around the show or parachuting out of airplanes over the Boat Show, landing perfectly in the live tank, only to live another day.
At last count, there were about 225,000 crab licenses issued by the Department for the privilege of crabbing in Puget Sound. If all of these license holders went crabbing at the same time, there would be nearly a half million crab pots (2 allowed per person) dropped into the Sound, with hopes of these yummy, highly sought shellfish, crawling into a pot.
The bottom line, when the new rules take effect in 2011, we need to know the crab fishing rules BEFORE we go crabbing. Since the 2011 rules and season do not come on line before early July, you’ve got lots of time to understand the rules and enlighten your fellow crabbers. It is up to us, to bring this violation rate down, as we are on probation with the Commission. They intend to review this issue again later next year, particularly after the summer season and I am on board to help with the education task.
While I have been writing in this column about the important decision by the Commission, it is critical to understand what the decision means for the crab sport fishery. The decision means all areas of Puget Sound, from Sekiu to Olympia will open in early July on a 5-day a week (including both weekend days) schedule through early September. It means that crabbing will re-open on or around October 1st through the end of the year, 7 days a week. South Puget Sound, currently, south of the Narrows Bridge, is the only area that has open Dungeness crab fishing, 7 days a week through January 2nd. Uh-oh, that’s right now! Does that mean I’m going crabbing today? Yep!
Next fall, when October, November and December roll around, crabbing will be open in all areas. So think ahead, don’t be in a hurry to winterize your boat at least until the end of December, if you want to pull on your crab gear and put a pinch of Dungeness between your cheek and gum. Works for me!
Fall has become one of my favorite times of year. We can’t do anything about the rain, especially hearing the forecasts of a strong La Nina trend until next spring. I’m having a blast down here in south Sound doing business with the Dungeness and, blackmouth season opens in north Puget Sound (Area 9) on the first. As I have written, which seems like forever in this column, I dig blackmouth fishing. Sure, I can gripe about the wet and cold as well as anybody, but at least I’m on the water, doing my thing and living outside here in the Pacific Northwest. The payoff comes when friends gather around the table, on a Friday or Saturday night helping me consume fresh chinook salmon, hot off the grill, accompanied by my favorite grape juice! Once again, works for me.
So, it’s November and I’m going outside, yes, with my Grunden’s rain gear, blackmouth fishing gear and a crab pot or two. And next Friday or Saturday night, you might want to join me and pull up a chair at my table, for some of Washington’s best fresh chinook salmon, sweet Dungeness and oh yeah, quality grape juice!
See you on the water!
