Hi Roger,
Great point on the dollars in regard to revenue for the state. That's one I hadn't really thought of. I love your IFQ idea, but I'm not sure it will ever happen.
My dad is going to to go down to the meeting in Olympia this Friday, but unfortunately, like most sport fisherman, I have to work on Friday.
Here's a letter I sent to a few publications, and WDFW. You actually make a few of the points that I did in my letter. The Seattle Times contacted me, and said they were going to publish it, but they haven't yet....
To whom it may concern.
It's remarkable to me, that the sport crab fishery might actually be
reduced even more than it already has been. Last year I was able to take
my seven year old daughter out for only one day of crabbing, during the
amazingly short five week season that WDFW deigned to grant sport
crabbers. That's right, the season that was cut off right before Labor
Day weekend, with almost no notice! I guess it looks like this is the
generation where sport crabbing will be eliminated.
I'm only 37 years old, but I've spent almost all of my life in the Pacific
Northwest. I have spent countless hours pulling crab pots here in Puget
Sound, and in Southeast Alaska. Crabbing, clamming, fishing, and hunting
are a huge part of life for many of us here in the northwest. My family
for example, has harvested seafood for generations. Even though I'm a
white guy, my family has harvested seafood in the northwest for eight
generations. My great aunt worked much of her life as an oyster shucker
down in Ocean Park. It sounds fabricated, but my great grandfather
actually died while out on his boat crabbing near his home in Willapa Bay.
Why is it always the sport guys that lose their share? IT'S BECAUSE WE
DON'T HAVE HUGE LOBBYING DOLLARS, AND WE ACTUALLY WORK AT OTHER JOBS WHILE
THINGS ARE BEING DECIDED IN OLYMPIA! I'd love to go to some of the
meetings on these subjects, but they are in Olympia, and I actually work
for a living. I can't take the time off and still support my family.
As I write this I can go down to my local grocery store and pick up some
Dungees for a mere $2.99 a pound. That's because it's commercial crab
season. I've seen it even lower than that. Econ wasn't my favorite
subject in college, but even I can see that there must be an excess of
supply to produce that kind of price. Crab doesn't need to be cheaper
than hamburger in the grocery store. It's that cheap because of
overharvesting on the part of the commercial guys. (commercial meaning
both tribal and non-tribal fisherman)
Now, about the tribal fishery. During the summer, while I was unable to
crab, I was told by my co-worker about that delicious crab he enjoyed that
weekend at the casino. "They practically give it away at the all-you-can
eat buffet" he said. I know, I know, we have a treaty. I know that the
tribes get half the crab. I know there's nothing WDFW can do about it. I
know that the commercial and sport guys split the rest. But why Puget
Sound? We are little guys. Can't we just leave one little area for us
sport guys? Couldn't we have less crab in the casino, and less crab all
winter, and let many people enjoy crabbing in the summer? Couldn't the
WDFW stop kow-towing to both the commercial and tribal fishermen, and
actually do what's best for the greatest number of people? I would expect
the WDFW to actually try to broker a deal with the tribes and commercial
fisherman, but instead, they don't even support a buyback of the
commercial licenses.
What I find even more remarkable is the poor way in which crabbing is
managed overall. I have spoken with biologists, and other people at the
WDFW, and I have even poured over the soft shell data that I had them send
me. I even threw it into an Excel spreadsheet. THERE IS NO MOLTING TREND
FOR CRAB FROM AREA TO AREA! I'm not sure who decided that crab in one
area all decide to molt at the same time, but they are wrong. Someone
needs to let the crab know that they need to move from area 8.2 to area
8.1 during certain times of the year when they are molting. Here's a
radical concept.... Crab molt when they get too big for the shell they
are in. They don't molt because of water temperature, food, reproduction,
or because they feel like it. This means that you can find softshell crab
at any time throughout the year. From Alaska to Canada, I have found
softshell crab during all times of the year. Washington crab are not
special!
I also remain extremely skeptical about WDFW's claims about softshell
mortality, but neither I, nor WDFW have sufficient data to draw any
conclusions. What is the sample survey that numbers like 6.7% motality
rate, and 6.8% cannibal rate are based on? How many crab were actually
sampled, and how were these things actually measured? Did they have a
control group? Do they actually know what the mortality rate is in the
wild, and is this any higher? Does WDFW know how to perform a
statistically valid scientific suvey at all?
Do we even care if I get a softshell crab? No, they're just fine to eat.
We do it all the time in Alaska. Even if the WDFW's figure of 20% vs. 25%
weight of meat per crab on soft and hard shells is accurate, who cares?
What's five percent? Let's make it similar to what they do on razor
clams, just make everyone keep every legal sized crab caught. Why isn't
that done? It's because of the commercial guys. Commercial guys throw
their softshells in the dumpster when they get home, because wholesalers
don't want to buy the softshells. Sport guys don't do that, but we are
restricted in what can be caught when, and where, because that's the way
the commercial fisherman want it, therefore that's the way WDFW wants it.
I'm not even going to get into the details of absurd things like catch
record cards, increased licensing fees, gear restrictions, amazingly
confusing regulations, shifting openings, and poor communication on the
hotline, and web page. Suffice it to say that WDFW has good biologists
and employees that are genuinely interested managing resources well, but
it seems to be run by a bunch of bureacrats that just want to keep adding
regulations, and pander to the tribes and commercial fisherman.
In general, the WDFW has completely abandoned the sport crabber, and we
can be certain that we will soon have no crab season at all. All this is
happening while WDFW even admits that crab stocks are perfectly healthy.
Unfortunately, we just don't have sufficient lobbying, or organization to
do anything about it. I guess sport crabbing will soon be a thing of the
past. I'll take my daughter to the grocery store, or the casino if we
want to get crab. I'm sure that will be just as good an experience.
Thanks WDFW, you are truly a sportman's advocate.
Sincerely,
Ross Holeman
425-770-1287
ross@w-link.net
