I too am not a crab biologist but something that WSU said jumped out to me. In an earlier post he said "...easy to catch dozens of giant keepers …". 3 to 5 years ago I was consistently hearing about the great crab in MA 13 with exceptional size male crabs; makes you wonder that with lower exploitation rates on the red rock crabs whether we just have not seen the effected of lower recruitment.
Larry - your comments on the crabbing in MA 8-2 (my home waters as well) is concerning. In my search for water quality information I ran across some limited information that included the deep water of MA 8-2 with that of south Sound and South Hood Canal with low ph (7.5 or below) from a couple years ago. Have to stress that it is limited information but my concern levels are rising.
Wonder if any at WDFW has access to better water quality monitoring?
Curt
Your question/speculation regarding what may be going on with red rock is well worth exploring. My perception is that info on red rock populations is extremely limited which is a part of WDFW's concern about having what would essentially be a season where red rock is the primary targeted species.
One must also keep in mind that the State was for several years unable to reach a Dungeness harvest agreement with the Nisqually tribe and that there was the perception that they were overharvesting and were doing so prior to the opening of the rec season. That led to one year when WDFW opened the season in MA 13 early to give recs some chance. Actual rec harvest was very low that year and remained so until last year's closure (but with tribes still able to take for personal and ceremonial use).
Anecdotally, local sport shops were selling cheap crab pots by the pallet load for use in the tribal fishery.
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