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Letter to Puget
Sound Commercial Crab Fishers and Crab Dealers
September 20, 2008 This website has been created to inform you of regulation changes for the the 2008-09 commercial Dungeness crab season, which begins at 8:00 a.m. on October 1, 2008. . It is your responsibility as the Puget Sound Dungeness Crab license owner or wholesale dealer to communicate this important information to the alternate operators and buyers who work for you. The current permanent fishing rules and provisions and the emergency (temporary) rules are included with this mailing. The emergency rules replace specific sections of the permanent rules. Both permanent and emergency rules must be read together for a complete understanding of the 2008-09 season regulations. For example, if the permanent rules indicate an area opens on November 1 and the emergency rules list October 15 as the opening date, the area will open on October 15. Please review the regulatory provisions and the following information carefully before fishing and feel free to contact an agency employee at the numbers listed below if you have questions. Note: Emergency rules adjusting the number of pots that can be
legally fished in each Management Region were not issued at the time of this posting. Please call the Puget Sound
commercial crab hotline at (360) 796-4601 ext. 320 or use this
link after September 20th to obtain this information.
The following regulations
will be implemented this season:
Setting crab pot gear from a vessel not
designated on a crab license ("barging") will be allowed from 8:00 a.m. on October 1, 2008 until 7:59 a.m. on
October 3, 2008 provided that the operator or alternate operator designated on the license is on board the
non-designated vessel and prior notice is given to WDFW (see regulation WAC 220-52-04000A for details). Note: the following pot limits are not final until an emergency regulation is issued.
Any in-season changes to regional pot limits will be announced on the commercial crab hotline (360) 796-4601 ext. 320. Please reference the map on the Commercial Crab Regulation web page for regional and catch area boundaries. Non-commercial and Limited-commercial areas
Dungeness Bay Non-commercial area:
The boundaries for the limited-commercial area in
Dungeness Bay were changed in 2006 (See WAC 220-52-04600K). The State
commercial crab fishery is closed in the area west of the 123° 7.0' longitude line projected south
from the New Dungeness light to the southern shore of Dungeness Bay.
Port Angeles Harbor Non-commercial area:
That portion of Marine Fish/Shellfish
Catch Area 23D west of a line from the eastern tip of Ediz Hook to the ITT Rayonier
Dock (Port Angeles Harbor) will be closed to commercial crab harvest this season
(See WAC 220-52-04600K) based on recommendations from the Clallam County Department
of Health and Human Services. Commercial crab fishing will be open at 8:00 a.m. October 1, 2008, in the
following three areas, until further notice. These areas were limited-commercial areas in previous seasons.
See WAC 220-52-04600X and click here
for limited-commercial area maps, for a complete description of area boundaries.
Port Gardner Limited-commercial area:
Port Gardner: That portion of Catch Area 26A east of a line projected
from the outermost tip of the ferry dock at Mukilteo to the green #3 buoy at the mouth of the Snohomish River and west
of a line projected from that #3 buoy southward to the oil boom pier on the shoreline. Possession Point to Glendale Limited-Commercial Area:
Possession Point to Glendale: That portion of Marine Fish/Shellfish Catch Area 26A east of a line that extends true north
from the green #1 buoy at Possession Point to Possession Point, and west of a line from the green #1 buoy at Possession Point
extending northward along the 200-foot depth contour to the Glendale dock.
Langley Limited-Commercial Area:
Langley: That portion of Marine Fish/Shellfish Catch Area 24C inshore of the 400-foot depth contour within an area described
by two lines projected northeasterly from Sandy Point and the entrance to the marina at Langley.
The permanent regulation regarding other non-commercial
and limited-commercial areas is found in WAC 220-52-046 via the link at the bottom of this page.
For maps showing approximate non-commercial and
limited-commercial zone boundaries and descriptions of these areas click here.
Note that the state commercial fishery is closed in areas designated on the maps as "Special Management Areas".
Puget Sound Commercial Fishery general schedule by
Management Region.
The fisheries will close in each region on the dates listed below, or when the harvest share is reached, whichever comes first:
Management Region 1 will open October 1, 2008 and close April 15, 2009 with the following exceptions:
Lopez Sound will close March 15, 2009.
The area is described as that portion of MFSF Catch Area 22A that includes Lopez Sound and Blakely
Sound, south of a line extending from Upright Head to the green flashing marker on the southwest tip
of Obstruction Island; west of a line extending due south from the green flashing marker on the
southwest tip of Obstruction Island to Blakely Island; west of a line drawn from the red flashing
buoy at the southern tip of Blakely Island across Thatcher Pass to the white flashing marker at
Fauntleroy Point on the northwest corner of Decatur Island and west of a line drawn due south through
Lopez Pass from the red flashing marker on the southern tip of Decatur Island to the point of land
across Lopez Pass on Lopez Island. The closed area includes Shoal, Swifts, Hunter, Mud, Reads,
Brigantine and Sylvan Bays and Blakely Island Shoal.
Bellingham Bay will close March 15, 2009, in that portion of MFSF Catch Area 21A
east of a line extending from Pt. Francis to Governor's Point. Samish, Padilla and Fidalgo Bays, MFSF Catch Areas
21B and 22B, will close March 30, 2009. Management Region 2E will open October 1, 2008 and close February 15, 2009
unless results of shell condition testing justify an extension to February 28, with the
following exception:
The Everett Flats area will close December
31, 2008. The area is defined as that portion of catch area 26 A east of a line from Howarth Park
due north to the south end of Hat Island and that portion of 24B east of a line from the north end
of Hat Island to Camano Head and south of a line drawn from Camano Head to Hermosa Point.
Management Region 2W will open October 1, 2008
and close March 18, 2009 unless results of shell condition testing justify an extension to
March 31, 2009.
Management Regions 3-1, 3-2, and 3-3 will open
October 1, 2008 and close March 31, 2009.
Bouy Tags
Again this year, commercial crab fishers will be
charged for the cost of replacement crab pot buoy tags. The charge is seventy cents for each
replacement tag. The charge per fisher, for replacement tags needed during the 2008-09 season, will
be billed to those fishers when they purchase tags for the 2009-10 season.
To obtain replacement tags, the
owner must complete and sign a declaration form in the presence of a
designated agency employee, stating the number of pots/buoy tags lost,
the location and date where the pot gear or tags were last observed and
the presumed cause of loss. Replacement tags can only be obtained in
person at/from the following designated locations and agency staff: Replacement Tag contacts:
To ensure the appropriate
staff will be on site to distribute replacement tags, please contact
designated staff at the office where you plan to obtain replacement tags to
schedule an appointment. Declaration forms will be available at the
time of receiving replacement tags.
The following regulations for
crab buyers will be implemented
again this season: At the request of the
crab industry, we are requiring daily reports by crab buyers during the
2007-08 season to improve our ability to monitor the state commercial
harvest in each region. PLEASE report daily purchases of Puget Sound
crab harvested by non-treaty fishers by 10:00 a.m. the following business day.
For more details, see permanent WAC 220-69-240. The reports must be made to the Point Whitney
District Office by facsimile at 360-586-8408 (See WAC 220-69-24000N). Alternately,reports can also be
made by telephone at 1-866-859-8439 extension 500.
Reports must specify the dealer name, dealer phone number,
the date of delivery of crabs to the original receiver and the total number of
pounds of crab caught by nontreaty fishers by Crab Management
Region or Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Area. Click here
for a PDF of the 2008-09 Commercial Crab Quick Reporting Form. The fish receiving ticket-reporting requirement
of WAC 220-69-240 remains in effect. According to WAC 220-69-240,
it is unlawful for any original receiver of crab to fail to record all
crab aboard the vessel making the delivery to the original receiver.
The poundage of any crab deemed to be unmarketable, discards or weigh
backs must be shown on the fish receiving ticket, but a zero dollar value
may be entered for such crab. Regulations that pertain to the
2008-09 Puget Sound commercial crab fishery can also be found on the WDFW hotline:
(360) 796-4601 ext. 320. Additional regulatory provisions that will be adopted in-season to address conservation and
allocation concerns will be made available on the WDFW hotline.
Have a safe and productive
season!
Rich Childers, WDFW Shellfish Manager
(360) 796-4601
- Brinnon See also:
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