The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is set to consider extending rules restricting the number of crab traps in the water and how deep they can drop in the late-season months when humpback whales are more likely to swim there.
The industry, a backbone of the Pacific Northwest’s commercial fishing industry, can yield millions of pounds of crab in a good year and rake in tens of millions of dollars annually. In 2021-2022, Oregon crabbers landedComing off such a strong year, tension over potential permanent regulations is high.
Oregon’s current pot limits are enforced at the start of the season in December and reduced an extra 20%, with an added 240-foot depth limit, from May 1 through the end of the season, when humpbacks are most common along the Oregon coast. Over an eight-year period ending in 2021, an average of 35 entanglements were reported annually on the West Coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, though the number could be higher. Some are never observed or reported.
To effectively reduce entanglement risk, the number of traps in the water must be reduced by 40%, trap depths should be restricted to 168 feet and those rules should start earlier, on April 15, to align with peak exposure to whales, Kershaw said.Pettis said his fleet switched to halibut fishing along the Oregon coast after May 1, when crab pots couldn't sink deeper than 240 feet , which he said cost him “a significant amount of money.
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