

U.S. fisheries are classified under the Marine Mammal Protection Act according to the level of interactions that result in incidental mortality or serious injury of marine mammals.
Category |
II |
Estimated Number of Participants |
197 |
Target Species |
Dungeness crab |
Applicable Take Reduction Plans |
N/A |
Observer Coverage |
None |
Marine Mammal Species/Stocks Killed or Injured |
Gray whale, Eastern North Pacific; Humpback whale, CA/OR/WA1
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^ Number of participants estimates are based on state and federal fisheries permit data. The estimated number of participants is expressed in terms of the number of active participants in the fishery, when possible. If this information is not available, the estimated number of vessels or persons licensed for a particular fishery is provided. If no recent information is available on the number of participants, then the number from the most recent LOF is used. NOAA Fisheries acknowledges that, in some cases, these estimations may be inflating actual effort.
*Observer coverage levels include the latest information reported in the most current final Stock Assessment Report (SAR).
1 Indicates the stock or species is driving the classification of the fishery.
The mean annual mortality and serious injury of humpback whales (CA/OR/WA stock) is greater than 1% and less than 50% of the stock’s Potential Biological Removal (PBR) level.
This fishery operates along the coastal waters off WA from the Columbia River estuary to Cape Flattery, including Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. The fishery opens on or about December 1 when the majority of male crabs have recovered from the fall molt and shell condition has hardened. The season runs through September 15.
The pots are fished individually and must be marked with an identification number. Surface marker buoys must also be tagged for identification.
The coastal crab fishery is a limited entry fishery. Each coastal crab license is assigned a maximum pot limit of either 300 or 500 pots. In 1997 Congress granted WA, OR and CA jurisdiction to manage Dungeness crab fisheries outside of state waters to the 200 mile limit of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Under WA state regulations, pots can be no larger than 13 cubic feet and must be equipped with specified escape rings for undersize crab and a biodegradable release mechanism to allow crabs to escape from pots that become separated from the buoy or have otherwise become lost. There is a summer Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which is part of the larger WA Coastal Dungeness Crab FMP, in place to protect crabs that enter the molt prior to the September 15 season ending date. This summer FMP allows for in-season closures of the fishery if the percentage of early molting crab reaches a certain level.
Original Category (Year added to the LOF) |
III (1996) |
Original Number of Participants |
1,475 |
Basis for Original Classification |
Listed as Category III because there was no observer, logbook, or stranding data available. |
Past Names |
WA Dungeness crab pot/trap (until 2011); WA/OR/CA crab pot (until 2009) |
Species/stocks historically documented as killed or injured (but not currently on the list) |
N/A |
2020 |
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2011 |
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Changes on the LOF when the “WA Coastal Dungeness crab pot” fishery was included in the larger “WA Dungeness crab pot” fishery |
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2009 |
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Changes on the LOF when the “WA Dungeness crab pot” fishery was included in the larger “WA/OR/CA crab pot” fishery |
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2007 |
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2005 |
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