Puget Sound Dungeness Crab Fishery Washington Department of fish and Wildlife

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Puget Sound Dungeness Crab Fishery
Washington Department of fish and Wildlife
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State-Tribal Cooperative Shellfisheries Management
History of Cooperative Fisheries Management in
Washington State
1978 Boldt Decision (salmon) -Federal court
reaffirms treaty right to harvest salmon
equally (50) with the citizens of Washington
State and mandates a cooperative management
process. 1995 Rafeedie Decision (shellfish)
-Federal court reaffirms treaty right to harvest
shellfish equally (50) with the citizens of
Washington State and mandates a cooperative
management process.
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Cooperative Shellfisheries Management Process in
Washington State

• Co-managers WDFW WDNR WDOH 17 Tribes
• Annual harvest management agreements developed
  by State/Tribal fisheries managers for

• Intertidal clams and oysters
• Geoduck clam
• Dungeness crab
• Shrimp ( 4 species)
• Sea urchins (2 species)
• Sea cucumbers
• Squid
• Crayfish

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The Puget Sound Crab Fishery
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Puget Sound Crab Management regions
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3-S Crab Fishery Management Strategy

• SEX Harvest restricted to male crab only
• SIZE Harvest restricted to male crab that are 6
  ¼ inch or larger
• SEASON Harvest seasons designed to minimize
  fishing on soft shell crab
• Management approach male crab 61/4 inches or
  larger are surplus and can be removed from the
  population at a high exploitation rate without
  jeopardizing the health of the resource

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Managing Treaty/Non-Treaty Fisheries to Meet
Equal Sharing Objective

• 1995 to 2001 Dungeness crab fisheries were
  managed to meet allocation objectives by
  maintaining 50/50 sharing in-season
  between treaty and non-treaty fisheries.
• 2001 fisheries managers implemented a quota
  based system requiring preseason allocation
  between treaty and non-treaty fisheries
• Preseason quotas are established for each Puget
  Sound crab region and are based on an average of
  the prior three years harvest

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Dungeness Crab Fishery Catch Accounting

• Treaty and non-treaty commercial catch must be
  recorded on a Fish Receiving Ticket at the point
  of sale

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Commercial Fish/Shellfish Receiving Ticket

• Tickets are filled out by wholesale buyers at
  the time of commercial sale of fish or shellfish
• Ticket information includes species, harvest
  area, harvest amount, fisher ID, sale price etc.
• Required for both State and Tribal commercial
  fisheries
• Wholesale buyers are required to send tickets
  to WDFW within 72 hours of the sale

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Estimating Recreational Crab Catch 2007

• Two separate crab catch cards are issued to
  fishers purchasing Puget Sound crab endorsements
• Summer CRC June- Sept 3 Fall CRC Sept 4.- Jan
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• All catch data from returned cards and internet
  reports are tallied
• A phone survey is conducted only on the group of
  fishers who fail to return their cards or
  internet report

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TALLY OF RETURNED CARDS
The higher the return rate of CRCs the less
weight the phone survey estimate will have on
the total catch
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State/Tribal Dungeness Crab Harvest in Puget
Sound (1991-2007)
Year
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Dungeness Crab Harvest for State Fisheries in
Puget Sound (1991-2007)
Year
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Allocation Policy for State Commercial and
Recreational Fisheries in Puget Sound

• The Puget Sound Crab Fishery Policy was adopted
  by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
  Commission on February 5, 2000.
• The Commissions Policy allocates non-treaty
  harvest between the state commercial and
  recreational fisheries.
• Provide recreational opportunity during the
  summer months
• State commercial fishery opens October 1

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• Marine Area 7 Fishery

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Recreational Crab Fishery Harvest Targets (pounds)
Marine Area 7 360,000
Marine Area 6 80,000
Marine Areas 8-1, 8-2 Combined 350,000
Marine Areas 4, 5 Combined 35,000
Marine Area 9 82,100
Marine Area 10 90,000
Marine Area 12 250,000
Marine Are 11 40,000
Marine Are 13 No Quota
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Recreational Dungeness Crab Catch in Marine Area
7 (1991-2008)
season
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State Recreational and Commercial Dungeness Crab
Harvest in Marine Area 7 (1991-2007)
Year
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Soft Shell Surveys to Determine Season Opening
and Closing Dates
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New shell
Old shell
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Marine Area 7 Crab Fishery Season Structure

• Treaty fishery openings are dependent on results
  of June soft shell surveys
• Treaty fishery can open before or after
  recreational fishery
• Recreational fishery opening dates are fixed and
  are based on a post molt period
• State commercial fisher opens October 1 each year

7 North August 15
7 East July 15
7 South July 1
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Questions