The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has extended Dungeness crab fishing rules to reduce whale entanglements, but commercial fishermen say the regulations will put them out of business.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) told the commission that the restrictions, begun in 2020 and set to end this year, appear to have reduced entanglements.
The commission, which oversees the ODFW, originally ordered the rules with a three-year sunset provision to evaluate their effectiveness.
“Crab fishermen don’t want to entangle whales; they just want to make a living,” said a fisherman who described himself as a 46-year veteran of the industry.
One activist in favor of the regulations warned the commission that doing nothing would also harm fishermen and the state.
Ms. Brock said the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires states to have a conservation plan for endangered species. Federal officials will then issue an “incidental take permit” based on the plan. This permit protects the state and private individuals who are making a good-faith effort to comply with the law if an endangered animal is injured or killed in the course of an otherwise lawful activity.
Oregon does not have an incidental take permit for whales, she said.
What the Regulations Say
The rules, which have been in place for the past three years, reduce the number of crab pots by 20 percent per fisherman and prohibit crab fishing in depths greater than 40 fathoms (240 feet or 73.15 meters). The rules reduce the amount of rope and the number of buoys allowed on the surface, but they allow fishermen to keep crabs found in derelict fishing gear.Derelict gear includes gear that is improperly marked or found in off-limits fishing areas. Before the current rules were enacted, crab fishermen were prohibited from keeping and selling crabs found in derelict gear they recovered. Fishermen are more likely to recover derelict gear when they are allowed to profit from the crabs found inside, according to information from the ODFW website.
Beginning in 2014, the number of whales entangled in crab fishing gear increased. ODFW information indicates humpback whales were hardest hit.
“While gray whale entanglements have remained low and relatively consistent over time, humpback whale entanglements increased starting in 2014 and have remained the most entangled whale species on the West Coast,” information on the ODFW website reads.
In 2022, NMFS reported 30 entanglements of various whale species. Most were off the coast of Central and Southern California. Some were reported near other states or countries but involved U.S. West Coast fishing gear.
According to the NMFS, the list of entangled whales in 2022 included 18 humpback whales, 10 gray whales, one transient killer whale, and one fin whale.
Deep Water
ODFW staff said that in addition to the 20 percent crab pot reduction, they recommended the depth restrictions because humpback whales prefer deeper water. Limiting fishing to water no deeper than 40 fathoms should keep fishing gear away from most whales.According to the ODFW website, the depth restrictions would apply from May through August, when fewer crab pots are in the deeper water anyway, so the impact of that rule would be low, they said.
There Will Be Some Effect
In an email to The Epoch Times, Michelle Dennehy, an ODFW spokesperson, said the agency isn’t trying to downplay the impact on crab fishermen. She said the rules were written to mitigate the impact on the industry overall as much as possible.“There is some impact to the commercial fishery, which is Oregon’s most valuable, but the impact to the fishery as a whole is low—with individuals/vessels that rely more heavily on late season experiencing more significant effects,” Ms. Dennehy wrote.
Oregon has completed two fishing seasons under the new rules, the 2020–2021 season and the 2021–2022 season. The 2022–2023 season is still underway.
Ms. Dennehy went on to point out that during the past two full seasons, the crab industry as a whole was profitable.
The current season has been the second-most profitable, bringing in $85 million so far. Ms. Dennehy said this season is on track to match the best season on record, which was the 2021–2022 season with $91.5 million.
‘We Spend Our Life out There’
Fishermen who testified at the Aug. 4 hearing said the actual impact on the crabbing industry is a matter of perspective.Most of the crab fishermen who testified told the commission they had been fishing since childhood. They described a small, tight-knit community of professionals who made a large impact on Oregon’s economy. One fisherman said that if the entire Oregon crab fleet were to put out traps simultaneously, they would only occupy 0.0005 percent of the available fishing grounds.
He said that rather than having rules imposed on them, crab fishermen should be a more integral part of the process as they are true experts regarding the sea.
“Listen, there’s no better stewards of the ocean than these guys right here. We spend our life out there,” he said.
Another fisherman said he has encountered only one entangled whale in the 46 years he’s been crabbing. He and his crew spent 40 minutes freeing the whale “because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Nobody on the boat wants to see a whale entangled,” he said.
He said the rules would do little to protect whales while placing an undue burden on late-season fishermen.
“Further restrictions could cause business failures, especially in the small boat crab fleet, who are more dependent on the spring crab fishery,” he told the Commission.
One fisherman said that the rules already cut deeply into his bottom line as a small businessman. A further reduction in the number of crab pots he can put out or restrictions on where he can fish could be the end.
“I lose every day that I keep bringing that gear in,“ he said. ”If you increase [the restrictions], I’ll lose more fishing time; I won’t make enough money, I can’t keep fishing. It will end my career.”
