MILLER: NORTH AMERICAN CRAB FISHERIES REGULATIONS 



Types of gear are regulated by stating either 

 what may or what may not be used. The effect is to 

 Hmitthe commercial fishery to traps and ring nets, 

 and the sport fishery to traps, ring nets, dip nets, 

 handlines, and diving. Sharp instruments, tangle 

 nets, and usually trawls are excluded to avoid 

 unacceptable levels of crab mortality. To allow 

 escapement of subcommercial-sized crabs, one or 

 two rings of at least 4-inch diameter must be set in 

 the trap mesh in all jurisdictions. This is usually 

 required to be in the upper half of the trap to 

 reduce the chance of openings being covered by 

 drifting sand. 



The minimum size is regulated in all jurisdic- 

 tions. It allows males to mate at least once before 

 reaching legal size although opinions among jur- 

 isdictions differ as to whether their respective 

 minimum sizes are biologically optimum. To help 

 enforce size regulations, crabs must be landed 

 whole. 



Allocation of Landings Among 

 Commercial Fishermen 



Alaska has trap limits which vary considerably 

 among areas. The low limits discourage participa- 

 tion of large boats and reserve the resource for 

 small and local boats. British Columbia limits 

 commercial gear in one area to ring nets or dip 

 nets and traps are excluded in five bays in Oregon 

 to eliminate large commercial operators. 



Alaska has both exclusive and nonexclusive 

 fishing areas as in the king and snow crab fisher- 

 ies, for the same reasons and with the same 

 supporting regulations. As in the snow crab 

 fishery, a boat may not be registered in both 

 exclusive and nonexclusive areas whereas in the 

 king crab fishery a boat may register in one 

 exclusive plus nonexclusive areas. 



Conflict Over Grounds or Resource 



All jurisdictions have a small catch quota for 

 sport fishermen, ranging from 20 crabs per day in 

 Alaska to 6 per day in British Columbia and 

 Washington. Sport fishermen are limited to three 

 traps or three ring nets in Oregon and two traps or 

 two ring nets in Washington. These regulations 

 serve to differentiate between sport and commer- 

 cial fishermen and, in some areas, to divide the 

 available catch among many sport fishermen. 



There are a number of concessions to sport 

 fishermen in British Columbia, Washington, 



Oregon, and California for this very accessible 

 species. The fishery is open to only sport fishermen 

 in a marine park in British Columbia, in Hood 

 Canal in western Puget Sound in Washington, and 

 in bays, harbors, and near jetties in California. A 

 20-trap commercial limit imposed in Dungeness 

 Bay, Wash., controls competition with sport 

 fishermen. A slightly smaller minimum crab size is 

 applied to sport than to commercial catches in 

 Washington and Oregon to increase the sport 

 share of the catch. This size difference is sig- 

 nificant because in areas available to the commer- 

 cial fishery over 80% of the legal-sized crabs are 

 generally caught in the first few months of the 

 season. 



Salmon troller operators and crab fishermen in 

 Oregon have an informal agreement to divide the 

 grounds at the 15-fathom contour to resolve in- 

 compatible use of the fishing grounds. California 

 trawlers are permitted to land up to 500 pounds of 

 legal-sized male crabs per trip during the crab 

 season. This discourages trawling directed at 

 Dungeness crabs but allows them to retain in- 

 cidental catches. 



Processing Economics 



In addition to protection of their reproductive 

 role, females may not be retained in Washington 

 and Oregon because the meat yield and quality are 

 lower than for males. 



Some areas near the City of Vancouver, B.C., are 

 closed to both commercial and sport crab fishing 

 because of polluted water. 



Administration 



A commercial fishing license specifically for 

 crabs is required in Alaska and Washington, while 

 only a general commercial license is required in 

 British Columbia, Oregon, and California. Al- 

 though this provides a small amount of revenue, it 

 is primarily for records on participants. 



Eastern Canada Snow Crab 

 {Chionoecetes opilio) 



This fishery has two centers of operation, the 

 western Gulf of St. Lawrence and eastern New- 

 foundland. The first significant commercial land- 

 ings were taken in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1967 

 and in Newfoundland in 1969. Landings from both 

 areas totaled 23 million pounds in 1974 with 



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