When is dungeness crab season

Kirk Moore. Guest Author:. A California fisherman works Dungeness crab pots. California Department of Fish and Wildlife photo. Dungeness Crab. Related Read Next. Dungeness crabs sampled for quality testing. May 24, The deadline for returning summer and winter catch cards is printed on each catch card.

Crabbers have several options for reporting their catch information. They can report online , drop the cards off at a WDFW regional office, or mail them to:. Fishery managers rely on individual catch record card reports to estimate recreational harvest and to set future crabbing opportunities. By completing catch record cards, fishers play a vital role in maintaining sustainable harvest opportunities.

Translation limitations and disclaimer. Regulations All sport crabbers 15 years or older must carry a current Washington fishing license. The new cards are separate from the multi-species card used for recording catches of salmon, halibut and other fish. People of all ages who have a crab endorsement and received a catch record card are required to make a report even if they did not go crabbing or catch any crab.

Online reporting: Sport crabbers can either report their information through WDFW's online licensing system or mail their catch cards to the address on this page. The website address for reporting crab catches is printed on the catch record card along with reporting deadlines.

The reporting site will only accept catch reports during two time periods. Winter Catch Record Cards can only be entered from Jan. Normally, the Dungeness crab fishing season starts in November and runs through June of the following year, but fishermen had to wait until March of to start their season.

Commercial and recreational fishermen typically fish for Dungeness crab off the coasts of Southern and Northern California. When fishermen got the "all-clear" to begin the season, Blue said they were all fishing in the Gulf of Farallones near San Francisco.

Krill and other small fish whales' prey , whales, and Dungeness crab mingled with fishing vessels and crab pots. You could say the ocean was alive with everything—whales and crab," Blue said. The entanglements were a marked increase from the reported 10 per year between and The group included government agencies, commercial and recreational fishermen, environmental organizations, members of the disentanglement network, and marine mammal experts.

Fish and Wildlife's initial response to the entanglements, in , was to recommend that crab-vessel permit holders voluntarily reduce the use of trailer buoys and remove gear from Monterey Bay and to establish a "best practices guide" on setting crab traps to reduce entanglements. In a press release, the Center for Biological Diversity stated that the recommendations weren't enough to reduce entanglements.

Initially a working group participant, the organization left it and sued Fish and Wildlife for failing to prevent commercial Dungeness crab gear from entangling, injuring, and killing humpback whales, blue whales, and sea turtles, thus violating the Endangered Species Act, according to court documents.

In , the parties settled the lawsuit, detailing an approach to reduce entanglement, ensure stakeholder input from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, and create a formal commitment from Fish and Wildlife to pursue a federal permit for protecting endangered species.

Fish and Wildlife was already committed to doing those things, said Ryan Bartling, a senior environmental scientist with the agency.

The settlement, he said, provides that assurance. Part of the approach to reducing entanglement is the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program RAMP , which looks at data and analyzes where the risk of entanglement is elevated, and that information is used to manage the fisheries, Bartling said.

That basically allows a fishery to 'take' whales or sea turtles that would otherwise be a protected species," he said. Senate Bill was also passed in , and the legislation gave the Fish and Wildlife director interim authority to make in-season changes based on risk assessment data.

Those changes include the ability to close fishing areas, restrict gear density, and require specialized equipment, if necessary. It's important that the public understand, Bartling said, the RAMP program isn't set up to be an adversarial process and regulation.

Ultimately the director has the authority, but we really are going to depend on the fleet to implement it and make it work," he said. Fisherman Blue said he and his peers are a little jaded about the new regulations and delayed seasons because, "the fisheries of the West Coast of the United States are the most regulated fisheries anywhere in the world.

He said he does understand the need to protect endangered species.