Isn't it really about the desire to have human bodies onsite to witness everything, instead of trusting? Without getting into a political debate, it seems to me that as the degree of oversight and bureaucracy goes up, so does the populace's cynicism and disrespect. Not that I act on any of them, but I still find myself thinking of all ways I could bypass the heavy-handed enforcement of things like crab take, because of the us-vs-them atmosphere engendered by the enforcement. If it were up to my own sense of right and wrong, I would feel a lot better about following the rules, instead of just feeling lucky that I didn't get busted for some violation after getting grilled by the checker. I would contend that the people that plan on keeping too many or out-of-season crab/salmon/whatever will do so regardless of the enforcement, barring a manned checkpoint and strip search between every ramp and parking lot.

I would also contend that packing a season like Hood Canal shrimp into a few days creates a manic sort of festival atmosphere that draws people to an activity that they otherwise might just ignore, if it wasn't seen as such a Big Deal. I'm sure you have seen the MasterCrafts and bass boats out there in Hood Canal shrimping. What if you were allowed to catch 160 spot shrimp per year, and you could go harvest them anytime you wanted to? I bet you would have a much lower total take, because it's no longer a Big Deal. Who would drop $500 on a pot puller for 160 spot shrimp per year anyway? Why bother taking the MasterCraft over to Hood Canal? It's no longer about enjoying the activity, it's about being part of the Big Deal. "Yup, we did the Hood Canal shrimp fishery last year -- both days in fact."

Even now I see people talking about hitting area 8.2 real hard in July as soon as it opens, because you never know when WDFW will shut it down this year. Now you're in a crazy death-spiral of ever-shrinking seasons. I predict an early September area 8.2 "emergency" crab closure this year.

There are precedents for yearly limits -- sturgeon for example. Why not cram the whole sturgeon season into a single month, to ease enforcement? Come to think of it, why does crab and shrimp require such a heavy-handed enforcement protocol, but not sturgeon? Maybe it is because sturgeon is not a Big Deal. You can go harvest them pretty much whenever you want to. There's no rush.

I don't have all the answers here, I'm just saying that the contracted seasons have serious 2nd and 3rd order fiscal and social effects.