DEC. 23 — Fishing boats line the docks, alive with the hustle and bustle of Oregon’s saltiest crews. One week into Oregon’s crabbing season, boats along the Oregon coast are gearing up for the state’s most lucrative fishing season. Underneath the stormy waters of Newport, OR, live the wonderful creatures who feed the stomachs and hearts of Oregonians: Dungeness crabs.
Your dear authors started on our quest to uncover the secrets of Oregon’s shellfish. Braving the barren landscape with temperatures frigid enough to cause pneumonia and other ailments, we dove into the wide world of sea creatures, headfirst! Would we survive? What would we uncover? Find the bravery in your heart, dear reader, and join us on our quest to uncover the secrets of the Dungeness crab — prepare to be amazed!
Oregon’s fleet of 424 permitted crabbing boats captures an annual average of over 20 million pounds of crab; the 2023-24 season yielded a whopping 24.7 million pounds of crab, reports the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Dungeness crabs are the primary bounty. Using crabbing pots — metal traps submerged in a line — crabbers capture and haul ashore boatloads of crabs.
Looking for insight into the world of crabs, we meet with Dr. Angee Doerr, a crabbing expert at Oregon State University (OSU), near her office in Newport. She explains that though Oregon’s Dungeness crabs start local, their delicious taste is a worldwide phenomenon. These crabs will be distributed — live — to buyers in the Pacific Northwest and around the globe. Some even make it to China, where they are enjoyed on the Lunar New Year.
Oregon’s crabbing season spans from December to August, though most boats end their season by March. Year-round fishermen will harvest multiple different species, often on the same boat, and most boats switch out their gear season by season for different harvests. Rex Young, a seasoned crabber of 12 years who operates off the Chelsea Rose, a seafood supplier boat, reports on the varied crew, saying that many blue-collar workers spend a season or two fishing when their main business gets slow. Many construction workers turn to the shellfish industry when the winter rolls around.
Rob Kemp, who has been in the business since the ‘70s, is part of the older generation on the docks. Many fishermen who operate smaller boats — like his, the My Lee — are older as well. We meet him at the Port of Newport on Dock 5. His boat remains docked on stormy days, such as today, when crossing the bar into Yaquina Bay is perilous.
The crabbing community hails from different walks of life and represents only a piece of the puzzle that is Oregon’s seafood industry. Just as the people drawn to it are important parts of crabbing, crabbing is an important part of the larger economic web of fishing.
Crabbing is Oregon’s most lucrative fishing business. Fisheries along the coast reel in over 100 species of sea life, yet Dungeness crabs make up a disproportionate share of the revenue. “Within that portfolio of the whole commercial fishery, Dungeness crab makes up to — in most seasons — 40% of that income,” says Kelly Corbett, who works with the Dungeness crab fishery as part of the ODFW Marine Resources program.
When Dungeness crab season hits, almost every fishing boat swaps their equipment for crab pots. During the rest of the year, different boats fish a wide variety of catches; the My Lee fishes for salmon and rockfish while the Chelsea Rose fishes for halibut and tuna.
Environmental changes are shaping the current state of the industry. With the growing importance of protecting habitats and combating climate change, fishing as a whole is adapting. Sustainability is prioritized at the Dungeness crab fishery, explains Corbett. “By managing a sustainable, healthy commercial fishery, we’re also protecting the life stages [of crabs] that are valuable to all the other species in the ocean and also commercial crabbers.” Corbett describes the critical connection between fishermen and scientists, saying, “[Fishermen] are really important observers of what’s happening out on the ocean. We have really strong relationships with the fleet, and work with them [to understand] what they’re seeing and … [what] potentially could be happening.”
In Oregon, every aspect of crabbing is regulated for sustainability, down to the harvesting materials. Crabbing pots are required to have a “rotten cotton” — an untreated thread of cotton that would disintegrate if the trap were to be lost in the ocean, allowing the crabs within to escape. “The season protects a vulnerable stage of [a crab’s] life,” says Corbett, in reference to protecting the development of juvenile crabs. Only large male crabs can be caught during the season, which protects reproduction.
Dungeness crabs are a key part of the ocean’s ecosystem, with an impact larger than their individual economic or immediate environmental effects. “The ocean is a very complex ecosystem. There are these interwoven trophic [food] webs that rely on the balance,” explains Doerr.
As the water chemistry and temperature changes, the ocean becomes more susceptible to algal blooms. These blooms release domoic acid, which doesn’t harm crabs but can delay human harvesting of shellfish to protect consumers’ health.
Despite crab’s resilience to the changing oceans, other shellfish, like oysters, are suffering. We meet Alan Barton at the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery in Netarts, OR, who says the last few decades have forced the hatchery to make significant changes. When he first joined the hatchery in 2007, they were struggling with high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the water, which caused a massive decrease in larvae survival. “We’ve had to battle the ocean chemistry,” he says.
The hatchery pulls in 200 gallons of water from Netarts Bay every minute, and all of that water must be treated for oxygen and pH before being used to house oysters and grow algae. “We’ve definitely been impacted, [especially] in the last 10 to 15 years,” he explains.
The hatchery — one of the largest in the U.S. — partnered with OSU to adapt to the threat of changing ocean chemistry. “It took a lot of trial and error, and we now treat all of the water, even if it’s good,” explains Barton.
Anticipating and adjusting to ocean changes is part of the job, and that adaptation is critical to the future of shellfish. Though the future of Dungeness crabs is not crystal clear, crabbers and researchers alike are optimistic. “My hope is that there’s a great future for the Dungeness crab fishery,” says Corbett.
Oregon’s shellfish live in a changing ocean — an environment that prompts a changing industry. This evolution of the industry includes renewed sustainability measures and new regulations. Sold up and down the longitudes of the glorious planet we call home, Oregon’s shellfish are taken out of the ocean while still respecting the waters from which they come. Outside of Oregon, crabbing regulations may vary. As such, Doerr recommends buying locally, since Oregon’s regulations are especially environmentally conscious.
The life of a Dungeness crab starts small, being born as one of about 2.5 million eggs per female crab. By harvest, he will weigh between 1.5 and 3 pounds, but his small body leads to great impact: he supplies food for humans and marine predators alike; he protects the balance of his ecosystem; he’s a vertebra in the backbone of coastal economies. His contributions have earned him the title of Oregon’s state crustacean. Renowned for his taste and sought for his value, the Dungeness crab is one of Oregon’s most prized creatures.
