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With Price Deal Reached On Dungeness Crab, Vessels Are Headed To Sea

Brian Bull
/
KLCC

Three and a half weeks into Oregon’s commercial Dungeness Crab season, crab boats are  finally heading out to sea.

Haggling over the opening price was the sticking point between processors and fishermen.  An agreement on $2.75 per pound was announced Friday night.

Credit Brian Bull / KLCC
/
KLCC
Dungeness crab being gathered for market.

Taunette Dixon of the Newport Fishermen’s Wives group says she can’t recall the last time negotiations went on this long.  But she’s hopeful the season goes well.

“For the fisherman who are risking their lives, that are out there sacrificing their time, their energy, their health, their safety…to bring seafood to the world.”

Lori Steele is executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association. She says the COVID-19 pandemic really hit the industry, starting in March 2020.

“We lost our restaurant market overnight.  And that was about 70 percent - or more in some cases - of where our markets were.”

Dixon adds that some boats will head out Saturday morning, though many are planning to hold out until January 14th when the weather is more favorable.

Dungeness Crab is Oregon’s biggest commercial fishing commodity.  10,000 tons of the crustaceans were harvested last year, valued at $72 million.

Copyright 2021, KLCC.

Brian Bull is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon, and remains a contributor to the KLCC news department. He began working with KLCC in June 2016.   In his 27+ years as a public media journalist, he's 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.
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