I'm Dreaming of a Crab Christmas: Dungeness Season opens Dec. 16 south of Cape Foulweather
Commercial Fisherman to put the claws on Oregon Christmas tables
From Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Commercial Dungeness crab season begins Dec. 16 from Cape Foulweather to California border
NEWPORT, Ore. – Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery opens Dec. 16 from Cape Foulweather, just south of Depoe Bay, to the California border.
Commercial fishing for Dunegeness Crab will be allowed from Cape Foulweather south to the California Border starting Dec. 16.
Local grocers in The Dalles said they had not been given officials information that fresh Dungeness would be available before Christmas, but also noted it was early and to keep checking back with the meat departments for updates. They could be receiving crab within several days of the season-opening, but they could not make any promises. In the meantime, they did offer frozen and canned options - Tom Peterson
Pre-season testing shows that crabs remain too low in meat yield to open commercial fishing from Cape Foulweather to the Washington border. The next round of crab meat yield and biotoxin testing will help determine if this area can open Dec. 31 or is further delayed.
Targeted to open Dec. 1, Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season can be delayed or partially opened so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted. This year’s season was initially delayed until at least Dec. 16 due to low meat yield in some coastal areas.
ODFW tests crabs out of Oregon’s six major crabbing ports in partnership with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), and the commercial Dungeness crab industry.
Weekly season opening updates are posted online until the decision to open the season is made.
Oregon, California and Washington coordinate Dungeness crab quality testing and the commercial season opening dates. A history of Oregon’s commercial crab landings is available online.
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