WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

October 3, 2017
Contact: Don Velasquez, 425-775-1311, ext. 112

Several areas of Puget Sound reopen Oct. 7
for late-season recreational crab fishing

OLYMPIA – Several marine areas of Puget Sound will reopen for recreational crab fishing on Oct. 7, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced today.

The openings were approved by fishery managers after summer catch assessments by WDFW indicated additional crab are available for harvest during the late season, said Don Velasquez, shellfish manager for the department.

Waters reopening to sport crabbing Oct. 7 at 8 a.m. include marine areas 4 (Neah Bay, east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line), 5 (Sekiu), 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, and Skagit Bay), 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardiner), and 9 (Admiralty Inlet), except for waters south of a line from Olele Point to Foulweather Bluff.

In each area, crabbing will be allowed seven days a week through Dec. 31.

Sport crabbing will not reopen in marine areas 10 (Seattle Bremerton), 11 (Vashon Island), 12 (Hood Canal), and 13 (South Puget Sound).

The daily limit in Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6 ¼ inches. Crabbers may also catch six red rock crab of either sex per day with a minimum carapace width of 5 inches. Additional information is available on WDFWs website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/

All Dungeness crab caught in the late-season recreational fishery must be recorded immediately on winter catch record cards, which are valid through Dec. 31. Winter catch record cards are free to those with crab endorsements and are available at license vendors across the state.

Winter catch reports are due to WDFW by Feb.1, 2018. For more information on catch record cards, visit WDFW's website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/crc.html

Does any body know if we caught the share in 11, 12, 13, or did they just not open it due to a lack of crabs?

My guess is lack of available crab in those areas.

Good question. And it points to a major deficiency in the Shellfish Manager's annual legislatively required report to the Commission. No where in those reports has there been a spread sheet showing the agreed upon harvest numbers by user (tribal and State) group and any mid-season adjustments with explanatory footnotes. You will find break-outs by MA of tribal vs. State harvest and also break-outs of the State harvest between recreational and non-tribal commercial. But you WILL NOT find the corresponding original, pre-season agreed upon harvest numbers.

Now, if the Shellfish Manager had developed a separate webpage for the Crab and Shrimp Advisory Group we all would be able to readily access those annual reports. Here is a link to the Advisory Group webpage: http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/advisory/pssfag/PSSFAG_MemberRoster.pdf. You will note that Crab & Shrimp are absent.

Now that Mr. Childers has departed WDFW maybe his replacement will deem us worthy of having ready access to those reports as well as the roster of current group members and other pertinent data to include meeting dates, agendas and minutes.

So, exactly when was the last face to face general meeting of that Advisory Group?

And since I am on a roll here let me add that of the three current fee-based endorsements the P.S. Crab Endorsement is the only one which does NOT have budget oversight by an advisory group. That needs to be corrected. Too much money and far too little transparency as to how that money is actually being expended.

Footnote: The crab and shrimp advisory group is not the only one that is absent from the webpage and/or moribund. The last Cowlitz River Advisory Group is on the webpage but its last recorded meeting was early November 2016 when the WDFW facilitator publicly acknowledged the huge loss of summer run smolts. Not like they don't have problems to be discussed with stakeholders.....

We shouldn't have to "guess."

If one subscribes to the WDFW's management foundation that all male Dungeness crab meeting the 6 1/4 inch minimum size can be harvested while still maintaining a viable, healthy breeding population then lack of available crab to harvest should not be a limiting factor.

That would leave us with the conclusion that the State's share was harvested during the summer recreational season (no non-tribal commercial in those MAs).

But, again, we shouldn't have to "guess."

I talked to one of bios before the summer opener. There are almost no crabs in 13. Last year was bad, and this year was worse based on WDFW test fisheries. That includes big crabs, little crabs, females, males, etc. There is very little reproduction occurring for some unknown reason. This has been largely consistent with what I've seen while crabbing. Great 5 years ago, zero dungeness this year (literally).

They should just open it for red rock since that's all that's there anyway.

I've actually received the test fishery results for MA 13 for 2016 and 2017 and they are consistent with your input. Purely speculative on my part but the decrease in biomass and especially harvestable crab seems to be moving north.

And what were the agreed to harvest numbers in MA 13? Or was there actually an agreement to include all of the Treaty tribes with U&A in that MA??

My understanding is that the tribes (Nisqually specifically, unsure of others) have been opposed to an agreement and done whatever they want. I believe that was the reason WDFW started opening earlier, figuring if it was a free for all and the tribe was going to low hole the state, we may as well join in.

Anyone know if there's any truth to that?

That is absolutely accurate. Probably one of the more egregious examples of failure of the co-management paradigm. I believe this (2017) was the third year that the Nisqually tribe refused to even give the appearance of working with the State and the other tribes. The two years prior (that would be years four and five back) they exceeded their share by 3x and 2x leading to the following year simply not willing to agree to a number (and be criticized for exceeding it).

Another serious issue is the accuracy of the agreed upon harvest numbers. As I have opined here several times (or more) using a running five year average may be good enough when the biomass is relatively stable but when there is a downward trend that average is always too high. The result is that the tribes half of the paper crab is really more than half of the real crab - and they get to fish first and work hard to achieve their half of the paper crab. So what do we get? An opportunity to chase far less than the half to which we are entitled.

Can anybody tell me anything about fishing for Bairdi/Tanner in the Straits? A little bit of info out there from the San Juans, and some hints that there may be quite a few of them in the Straits, but nothing clear cut. Or maybe any info from the San Juans? Regular dungie pots work? Special bait? Any problem keeping your pot in 400 ft of water with current?