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It's Two Weeks Into Dungeness Crab Season...Why Are Crabbing Vessels Still Docked?

KLCC | By Brian Bull
Published December 31, 2020 at 3:27 PM PST
Brian Bull
/
KLCC

The commercial Dungeness crab season officially opened through most of Oregon’s coast on December 16th.  But there’s no crabbing going on…yet.

Currently, processors and crab fishermen haven’t worked out an opening price for the popular crustacean.  Until then, the docks from the southern Oregon border up to Cape Falcon are pretty dormant. 

Tim Novotny is with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.  He says heavy weather patterns off the coast are also keeping crab boats at bay.

Credit www.theoceanharvest.com
A crab harvest in progress.

“These storms off the coast produce these large swells and they make it very treacherous to get out through the bars," explained Novotny.  "We had a series of those in January (2019), and it kept a big chunk of the fleet from getting out. And that’s kind of what we’ve been seeing all of a sudden in mid-December right about the time the season started.”

Novotny says he can’t comment on the pricing negotiations, but feels certain a deal will be reached soon that’ll start crabbing operations in good time. Crabbing north of Cape Falcon is delayed due to domoic acid levels.

Copyright 2020, KLCC.
Brian Bull
Brian Bull is a contributing freelance reporter with the KLCC News department, who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with the Native American media organization Buffalo's Fire, and was recently a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his nearly 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional),  the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from  the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.
See stories by Brian Bull
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