Any idea on why the WDFW has not published 2021 crab seasons yet?
The Puyallup tribe has already finished their season in area 11 and we have not yet heard if we are going to get a season or what it will look like. Most of the other tribes seem to be harvesting too. If there truly is a co-management, wouldn't our seasons be available at the same time the tribes announce theirs, or at least within a reasonable amount of time?

It is of particular interest to me, as last year the tribe took just over their full allotment in area 11. The sports side, however, only got about 75% of their quota. I have emailed the area biologist a bit. Apparently, they believed that the rec. side only had around 3700 lbs left on their quota. For this reason they decided not to open the winter season. Later on, when they further analyzed the data and realized the rec. side actually had approx. 9250 Lbs left, but by then they felt it was too late to have a season. They followed it up by stating they feel is was the right decision as the latest population surveys showed the stock numbers had fallen dramatically from the previous year at the same time.

I have several problems with this explanation. The first is that the rec side routinely does not take over 3000lbs during the entire winter season. With adequate monitoring, the season could have been shut down early. The second is that if there truly were less than available then forecasted, the rec side should get that made up this year against tribal quotas, as they went in early and took their full share.

We will see what happens, but with the tribe already taking this years quota before even announcing what ours will be, it becomes real hard to bring up objections. Their quota was reduced quite a bit, but with the state already saying numbers are down, this would be expected. The tribe seemed to get their numbers fairly quick, but again, we will have to see what that really means.