THE DUNGENESS CRAB INDUSTRY 

 By Fred W. HipkinsJV 



The Dungeness crab (Cancer magister), often called the Pacific 

 crab, is a large hard-shell crab measuring up to 10 inches across the cara- 

 pace (fig. 1). It is named after a small fishing village, on the Strait of Juan 

 de Fuca in Washington, where the commercial fishing for this crab began. 

 The Dungeness crab, in its several market forms, is considered a choice 

 fishery product of the North Pacific Coast and provides a highly palatable 

 protein-rich food. 



Figure 1 - Dungeness Crab 



The Dungeness -crab fishery extends from San Francisco Bay 

 in California to Prince William Sound in Central Alaska and provides seasonal 

 employment for more than 5 thousand persons working in about 95 shore 

 plants. Nearly a thousand fishing boats and vessels land about 28 million 

 pounds of Dungeness crabs annually. The combined assets of vessels, fishing 

 gear, and shore plants are valued at more than 10 million dollars. 



1/ Fishery Marketing Specialist, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Fishery 

 Products Laboratory, Ketchikan, Alaska 





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