CRAB SEASONS SET

[kirkster5]

www.wdfw.wa.gov

Last time I checked I thought this was a reasonably healthy fishery. Looking at the season which was set they must be damned dear extinct.

[Lazy Flamingo]

What type of license will I need to go crabbing when I
am there in June? .. http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/533.gif

[kirkster5]

Well, the only areas open in June open on the 17th and they are either the pacific coast or South Puget Sound (olympia area) not a lot of crabbing opportunities I'm afraid. Also I've never had much success with dungeness crab as far south as Marine area 13(south puget sound) so save your money and come back in august. This is very frustrating to locals who remember not too long ago when the only closures were during the soft shell period which only lasted a couple of months. Much like most of our fisheries out here the commercial interests and Native treaties(abused for years) have almost eliminated the recreational seasons. Not to preach too much here but I cant think of a better way to get people not to care about the enviornment than to eliminate the reasons that people go out and enjoy it!!

[Go Aweigh2452]

crabs are in abundence in deep water... over 150 feet. I'd also modify your traps by cutting the doors wider and buying additional gates that you would attach side by side. Seems most of todays traps are set for small crab anyway. Big ones cannot get into a door that is too small... Check out a commercial trap some time and be amazed at how big those doors really are...

Also, if you want fresh crab... go to Bell harbor marina and you can buy all you want (big ones) for $5 each... no limit... they are indian....

I'll drop a couple of traps south and let you know how successful I have been (after the season opens...)...

[Randygh]

I have never set pots deeper than 50 feet. My pot puller is a unit made by armstrong and it doesn't work real well if the pots are set deeply. If pots are set 150 feet, what determines where you set them? I like to set in an area where there is eel grass, but I don't know if eel grass grows that deep. Do you look for a sandy, flat bottom?

[sunnydude2]

Haven't you been watching Discovery's "Dangerous Catch" Randy? Soft bottom. :)

I always just look for smooth incline ~50' when we set pots.

[3788sam]

I'm hooked on that show! I keep telling my wife that I'd love to do that for 1 season but having seen the the ex special forces guy who was 40 something on his green horn trip- :roll:

[Jiff]

Will the season be open longer at 150'? :D I too look for flat stretches of bottom around 50'.

Bad news about this year's season. With Indian and commercial lobbying and increased human population around the Sound, looks like worthwhile crabbing for recreationists will eventually be a thing of the past. Is anything being done to buy back commercial licenses to reduce the fleet?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall the rec season ever being closed in Sept, a month I'm out on the water a lot. Gonna miss em, or probably just won't go cruising as much in Sep. Crab is a big part of saltwater cruising for me. I know the season didn't used to start until July 15, but losing Sep and Oct and who knows how many more months is a killer.

Don't like Sundays being closed. I think it's unfair to the working man with only Sat and Sun to get out. So, will you have to remove your pots on Sat?

[Go Aweigh2452]

the warmer the waters the deeper dungeness like to live... They enjoy cold water and can be found in depths in excess of 600 feet. They like soft muddy and sandy bottoms and like to hide in eel grass too so shallow water is fine IF the water is cold.

[kirkster5]

I cant say I remember what the other marine areas closure was for 2004 but, I do know that marine area 10 closed the friday of Memial Day weekend. I remember because my wife and I always like to do a mid September cruise and I was P...ed when they announced the closure.

Yeah, I spent an afternoon with a commercial crabber at Whidbey. He said the same thing... the really big ones are in between 300-350 if you can find the right bottom. He said you have to be careful though because at that depth, currents can move a trap really easy (all the rope drag), and the bottom is wrong more often than not. They need to be able to dig in, and don't like pebble or rock bottoms.

[Go Aweigh2452]

For you Seattle guys... according to an indian crabber I spoke to, he said right off Alki point in 150-200 ft is a good spot...

[Sea Otter]

FYI....here's a copy of my April 28th post [quote]"Anyone out there that is a "crabber" should consider attending the hearing on crab regulations May 14. They are talking restricting the number of days for recreational crabbers(down as low as 2 days a week)....among other things.

I was there with about 200 other recreational crabbers. The good news: the staff recommendation to the commission was MUCH more restrictive than was adopted. If there had not been such a good turnout and public input, there may not have been much of a season at all.

The biggest problem in this whole scenario is no one has an accurate count of how many crabs are caught by recreational crabbers. The WDFW is using a phone survey that is totally inaccurate. We believe the commision NOW also sees there phone survey is not valid. They have promised to come up with more accurate figures in the future.

It seems the further you crab down south in the Sound, the deeper you have to go. Last year I was crabbing at 200' plus....at that depth you need lots of bouyancy and lots of weight (mine are about 25lb. each...before any crab are in them). Good suggestion about bigger doors. I caught a couple last year at 9" and I'm not sure how they got in. If I had had larger doors, I may have caught more 9''ers.

Tim (the crabby one)

[Jiff]

Thanks to you and the other 199 that attended the hearing, Sea Otter.

What is the impetus behind (generally) reducing not only the number of days per week, but also the daily limit and the length of the season from last year? The phone surveys saying a lot more were caught by recreationists last year than the year before? I can see reducing one of the elements, but all three in one year?

[Sea Otter]

Testimony was heard by the Commisioners on all of these issues.
They were given 3 options to choose: (1) to retain last years rules
(2)modify last years rules or (3) drastically change last years rules.
Their staff was recommending adoption of option (3).

Thank goodness they didn't choose option (3). The crab regs. for this year is a modification between option (1) and (2).

Hopefully, next year, we will have better data and the Commision will alter the rules back in our favor. This was probably one of the biggest turnouts of recreational crabbers at a Commision Hearings. It was because of the turnout and testimony that we were not stuck with option(3)....only 4 crabs, less season, etc.

Good crabbing to you,
Tim

[Jiff]

In the interest of rec crabbers, I'm thinking if you caught a lot of crabs it'd be best to not send in your card and say you're too busy if you get a call from WDFW.

Yeah... but that actually works against you. They have a sophisticated way of extrapolating the numbers.

Lets say 100 licenses were issued. 20 get returned at the end of the year. If each of those 20 returned claimed 50 crabs on average... they apply that same amount to the ones not returned. To make it even worse... they do aerial surveys and count the nomber of pots in a specific area. Those are assumed to belong to A crabber. Each of those counts for 6 crabs each day of the season. Once they get the average haul calculated, they bounce those against the numbers reported. If reported is lower, they apply the higher of the two to the remaining missing cards.

They err in favor of the crabs. We're actually better off having everyone send in their cards, if they got 100% return, they'd void the areial survey results and we'd likely get a bigger allocation the next year. Make any sense? I say they shouldn't re-issue a license until the catch card is returned. I also thing commercials and NAs should report catches before they leave the boats. An accurate dailey tally would mean no one gets to over-harvest like they did this year.

[Jiff]

Regarding, "Lets say 100 licenses were issued. 20 get returned at the end of the year. If each of those 20 returned claimed 50 crabs on average... they apply that same amount to the ones not returned."

Assuming 50 is an above average take, then you wouldn't want those people sending there's in. (That's about what my wife and I combined average per year.)

Regarding, "... they do aerial surveys and count the nomber of pots in a specific area. Those are assumed to belong to A crabber. Each of those counts for 6 crabs each day of the season. Once they get the average haul calculated, they bounce those against the numbers reported. If reported is lower, they apply the higher of the two to the remaining missing cards."

Geez, no wonder their count is inaccurate. No compensation for pots left out for more than a day without being emptied? If they apply quantities from that catch perception to the missing cards then it is best for everyone except the exceptionally big takers to send their cards in.

I think its best if everyone just sends in an accurate count. These are trained marine biologists doing these estimates and trying to preserve whats available. By "averaging" your catches... you're not helping to get a fair catch count.

A person can take 6 per day, so I'd say a count of 50 by the end of the season wouldn't be unreasonable. There are many days every year we go out and get 3 limits on the boat.

They're surveying for "worst case" and trying to compensate for all the lost data that people won't send in. I say, if you don't send your numbers in... you don't get to fish anymore. :)

[3788sam]

Excuse my ignorance here, but is the crab population in any danger here? Or is this more of this just regulators and political job security issue?

More about the sport fisherman versus the commercial and tribal quotas. They've promised a quota to the tribal and commercial fisherman and if sportys overcatch, they have to give even more to the tribes.

It is a pretty heavily harvested resource though. The fines match too. $250 for each violation. That could get pretty steep, pretty quick.

[3788sam]

I wonder if we could become IBNW tribe and most of our fishing problems would be gone!

[Davy Navy]

I think the same people who counted the votes for Gregoire are counting the crabs caught by recreational fishermen! :cussing: