During the last Dungeness crab season, everything that could go right, went right. This year so far, it’s the opposite. That’s according to Tim Novotny, Executive Director of Oregon’s Dungeness Crab Commission.
He said the season for Oregon’s most valuable fishery started six weeks late on January 15th, and still isn’t open north of Manzanita or south of Coos Bay. In addition, the first week saw severe storms, and prices are half of what they were last year—due to a variety of factors.
However, Novotny told KLCC, “On the positive side, the crab that is coming in seems to be big, delicious beautiful-looking crab, and there seems to be a good abundance of it out there from what we’ve seen so far. So that’s been the silver lining on the start of the season.”
Novotny said last year’s harvest broke records, netting about $180 million dollars of economic benefit for the state. The season runs through mid-August, so, Novotny said, there’s time for the situation to improve.
