WA Coastal Dungeness Crab Pot Fishery - MMPA List of Fisheries

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.

West Coast

Current Classification on the List of Fisheries

Category	II
Estimated Number of Participants	204
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

^ 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.

Basis for Current Classification

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.

Distribution

Fishing effort takes place in coastal waters off the coast of Washington typically in depths less than 50 fathoms (90 m) ranging from the Columbia River to Cape Flattery near Neah Bay, including the estuaries of the Columbia River, Grays Harbor, and Willapa Bay. The fishery can run from December 1 until September 15 each year, although the duration of each season can vary depending on a number of factors that include crab meat quality and domoic acid, along with other considerations.

Gear Description

The only gear used in this fishery are crab pots, which are a maximum of 13 cubic feet in volume. The cylindrical or rectangular frame is enveloped with either PVC coating welded or galvanized welded mesh. The mesh consists of either low carbon steel wire or stainless steel wire. The mesh size can range from ½” x ½” to 2” x 3”. The trap colors can be metal, white, yellow, blue, gray, red or green. Most of the fishermen use black colored traps. Two or more cylindrical zinc coated weights are used to hold the trap down and in position, preventing it from hitting the bottom upside down. The pots consist of two or more escape rings or ports of at least 4¼ inches inside diameter, located in the upper half of the pot. The pots are set individually and not connected to one another. Each pot is required to have a pot tag and a buoy tag attached. Each pot tag must be permanently marked with the license owner’s name or license number and telephone number. There are requirements that all lines be marked with 12 inches of red no more than one fathom away from the main buoy, and no more than one fathom from the pot.

Management

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. Logbooks are required and must be received by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) within 10 days following any calendar month in which fishing occurred. A summer management period exists, whereby the number of pots used from May 1 until September 15, are reduced for the 300 (reduced to 200) and 500 (reduced to 330) pot limits respectively. The Grays harbor catch area is the only area which has a strict 200 pot limit, regardless of the number of pots for which a fisherman is licensed. Buoys used to mark pots have to be able to float at least 5 lb.

The buoy brand and color has to be registered together with the license at the WDFW. The length of line used to connect the trap/pot to the buoy can not be longer than what is absolutely necessary to compensate for tides, current and weather.

There is a summer Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which is part of the larger WA Coastal Dungeness Crab FMP, enacted 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.

Historical Information

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

Timeline of Changes

2022	Estimated number of participants updated from 197 to 204.
2020	Estimated number of participants updated from 228 to 197.
2011	Split from the Category III “WA Dungeness crab pot/trap” fishery. The coastal and Puget Sound (retained as Category III) Dungeness crab trap/pot fisheries are managed under separate licensing programs and different management regimes. The State of WA considers these as separate fisheries. More importantly, the migratory routes of humpback whales pass through the coastal waters off of the State of WA, but the migratory routes do not pass through Puget Sound. Individual humpback whales have been reported to occasionally enter Puget Sound, but NOAA Fisheries has received no reports of these individuals interacting with or becoming entangled in Puget Sound Dungeness crab trap/pot gear. Elevated to Category II. A humpback whale (CA/OR/WA stock) was entangled and seriously injured in Dungeness crab pot/trap gear in WA state waters in 2008. This serious injury results in an average mortality and serious injury rate of 0.2 humpback whales per year, or 1.7% of the stock’s PBR of 11.3. There have been no reported humpback whale entanglements in crab fisheries in the inland waters of WA. This fishery has 228 participants. Added the following species/stocks to the list of species/stocks incidentally killed/injured in this fishery: Humpback whales (WA/OR/CA stock): Based on a serious injury in 2008. A superscript “1” listed after this stock to indicate that takes of this stock are driving the classification of the fishery. Gray whales (Eastern North Pacific stock): Entanglements of gray whales in trap and pot gear have been reported; however, NOAA Fisheries had not yet determined which specific fisheries were involved. Gray whales were added to the list of species/stocks killed or injured in the Category III “WA/OR/CA crab pot” fishery (from which this fishery is split) in 2005 and retained on the list in the Category III “WA Dungeness crab pot” fishery in 2009; therefore, it also remains listed under this separate fishery. Data related to interactions with gray whales and the newly categorized Category II trap and pot fisheries will be reviewed and discussed in future LOFs.
Changes on the LOF when the “WA Coastal Dungeness crab pot” fishery was included in the larger “WA Dungeness crab pot” fishery
2009	Split from larger “WA/OR/CA crab pot” fishery when the fishery was split by state and listed separately as a Category III fishery. Each of these fisheries is managed and permitted by the individual states and each state has different regulations and regulatory capacity for their fishery. The WA portion of the fishery remained a Category III because humpback whale entanglements have not been attributed to gear in WA. Gray whales remain listed as injured or killed in this fishery because gray whales have been listed as injured or killed in this fishery on past LOFs.
Changes on the LOF when the “WA Dungeness crab pot” fishery was included in the larger “WA/OR/CA crab pot” fishery
2007	Added humpback whale (Eastern North Pacific) to the list of species/stocks killed/injured in this fishery based on 14 sightings of humpback whales entangled in trap (11 cases) or pot (3 cases) gear between 2000 and 2005. Data was insufficient to warrant elevation to Category II for the 2007 LOF, but NOAA Fisheries stated its intent to monitor trap/pot interactions with large whales on the west coast and revisit classification in future LOFs, if warranted.
2005	Added gray whales (Eastern North Pacific) to the list of species/stocks killed/injured in this fishery because of an interaction documented by the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program and NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement.