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Frequently Asked Questions: Puget Sound crab fisheries Do I need a fishing license to fish for crab in Puget Sound? Anyone age 15 and over is required to have a fishing or shellfishing license to fish for crab in Washington state. In addition, all fishers – regardless of age – are required to have a crab endorsement and a catch record card while fishing for crab in Puget Sound. Sport crabbers will be issued two catch record cards when they purchase a Puget Sound crab endorsement with a fishing license. One CRC is valid for the summer fishing season, extending from the season opening through Labor Day. The other CRC is valid for the fall/winter fishing season, which extends from the day after Labor Day through Jan. 2. Summer catch reports must be returned by Sept. 15 of each year; fall/winter harvest reports must be returned by Jan. 15 of each year. Crabbers have the option of returning their completed catch record cards to WDFW by mail or filing their report on the website noted on the cards. Why are recreational crabbers required to have catch record cards? Catch record cards, which provide an ongoing account of each crabber’s catch, are the foundation of the state’s recreational catch-accounting system. Just as fishery managers rely on fish tickets to track the commercial harvest, they depend on catch record card data to estimate the recreational catch. Data from catch record cards submitted for the summer fishery will be used in estimating in-season catch relative to area harvest quotas. After the season is over, data from catch cards for both the summer and fall/winter fishing periods will be used to determine the total harvest for the season. Accuracy is important. Inaccurate catch estimates can result in over-harvesting or unnecessary limits on fishing opportunities. That’s why carefully maintained, up-to-date catch record cards are vitally important in maintaining future fishing opportunity. What other rules are in effect for the recreational crab fishery? Fishing seasons, daily catch limits and other recreational crabbing rules are described in the Fishing in Washington rules pamphlet. How are Puget Sound crab-fishing opportunities determined? Fishing opportunities for Dungeness crab and other shellfish are shared equally between treaty Indian tribes and non-tribal fishers under a 1994 federal court ruling known as the “Rafeedie decision.” Non-tribal Puget Sound Dungeness crab fishing opportunities are allocated between recreational and commercial fishers under a policy adopted by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, the nine-member citizen panel that provides guidance to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Commission’s policy divides Puget Sound into six crab-management regions, three of which are off-limits to non-tribal commercial fishing. In the remaining three areas where both recreational and state commercial fisheries operate, recreational opportunity is based on the average annual sport catches from 1996 to 2000. How are recreational crab seasons set in Puget Sound? Non-tribal crab fishing seasons for Puget Sound are set by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife within the allocation policy set by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. Puget Sound recreational crab fishing seasons are based on the amount of Dungeness crab available for recreational harvest in each of six crab-management regions of Puget Sound adjusted by the preceding year’s recreational catch rate in those regions. Since 2005, recreational fisheries in all six crab management regions of Puget Sound have been structured to provide approximately 75 percent of sport fishing opportunity during summer months. After Labor Day weekend, recreational crabbing closes in most marine areas for approximately one month while fishery managers count the summer sport catch. Marine areas where the recreational crab share remains are then reopened for additional fall and winter recreational crab fisheries. How are fisheries managed to protect Dungeness crab? Dungeness crab, like other state fish resources, is managed to perpetuate the species while providing a sustainable harvest. State and tribal fishery managers use a so-called “3-S strategy” to determine the portion of the Dungeness crab population that can be harvested on a sustainable basis. The 3-S strategy considers: Size: Only crab that are 6¼ inches or larger can be harvested, allowing smaller male crab the opportunity to mate at least once before they are taken in the fishery.   Sex: Only male crab can be harvested, to protect egg-bearing females for propagation.   Season: The fishery is closed during the peak crab molt cycle, when Dungeness crab shells are soft and handling could kill the animals. Why are different areas of Puget Sound open for crabbing at different times? Crab fishing seasons are structured to accommodate both crab molt cycles and catch rates in various areas of Puget Sound. Since those factors vary from area to area, so do opening dates of the fishery. Since 2005, fisheries in high-effort areas including Marine Areas 6, 7 South, 8-1, 8-2, 9, 10, 11 and 12, have been delayed until July 1 to allow fishing in those areas to continue uninterrupted through the Labor Day weekend, without exceeding catch quotas. Management regions with sufficient crab remaining for recreational fishing are then reopened for fall/winter fishing after catch numbers are tallied. Marine areas with slower catch rates open soon after the molt cycle is complete and may remain open until the molt cycle begins again. Why are recreational crab-fishing seasons in some areas shorter than in the past? Recreational crab seasons have been shortened in most areas of Puget Sound where estimates of the recreational Dungeness crab catch indicate a dramatic increase. Catch estimates for the Sound as a whole show the recreational harvest more than doubled from 1996 to 2005. Because of this increase, recreational crab seasons were shortened in 2005 to avoid exceeding target sport harvest levels established in the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Puget Sound crab policy. In restructuring the fishery, efforts were made to slow catch rates and extend the duration of the season. Changes include a later opening date and a four-day-per-week fishing schedule for eight high-catch areas of Puget Sound – including areas such as Hood Canal where no state commercial crab fishery occurs. This has allowed for summer, fall and winter fishing opportunities in most marine areas. How does WDFW estimate the recreational crab catch in Puget Sound? Starting in 2007, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will be implementing a new crab catch estimation system that will use in-season catch information from catch record cards returned to the department or reported on the internet. Prior to 2007 catch estimates were based on telephone surveys of thousands of sport fishers who hold catch record cards and are endorsed to fish for crab. The new system is designed to reduce the dependence on telephone surveys for collecting catch data and increase the use of catch information reported directly to the department. Catch information from returned summer catch cards will be entered into a database to generate a combined total. Crab fishers who fail to return their cards to the department prior to the required return dates may be contacted via phone surveys. Catch totals generated from the phone surveys will then be added to the totals for crabbers who returned their catch cards or reported their catch via the internet to generate overall catch estimates. Is the information collected from catch accounting confidential? Yes. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff and the company contracted to conduct the phone survey have access to each catch record card-holder’s name, address, phone number, CRC document number and recreational licensing identification number. This information and the data reported during the telephone survey are strictly confidential. The survey contactor does not have access to fishers’ driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers and cannot share or sell catch record card holders’ contact information. Where does the state commercial crab fishery operate? State commercial crab fishing in Puget Sound is limited to Marine Areas 4 through 9, under the Puget Sound Crab Policy set by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. Within these marine areas, non-commercial crabbing zones have been designated to protect the recreational fishery from competition with commercial gear. How is the commercial crab harvest counted? Both state and tribal commercial crab catches are reported on a legal document called a fish-receiving ticket. Licensed buyers are required to fill out fish tickets when commercially caught crab are weighed and sold. Copies of state and tribal commercial fish tickets are sent to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife within 72 hours of sale and recorded in the department’s catch-reporting database. Why does commercial crabbing take place after the recreational fishery has closed? While most recreational crab fisheries open between mid-June and July 1, the non-tribal commercial crab fishery in Puget Sound doesn’t begin until Oct. 1. Crab abundance is lower during the commercial fishery, following crabbing by recreational and tribal fisheries in summer. Because catch rates may be lower during the commercial fishery, it can take longer for commercial fishers to take their share of the harvest. Weather also often limits commercial fishing during fall and winter months, slowing the catch rate and thus extending the duration of the fishery. In a similar fashion, tribal crabbers generally take more time to harvest their equal quota of Dungeness crab. Because each tribe’s fishery is restricted to its own treaty area, there are typically fewer tribal fishers than non-tribal fishers in any one area. Are there limits on the size of the state commercial crab fleet in Puget Sound? Yes. The state commercial fishery for Dungeness crab is a “limited entry” fishery, meaning that only a fixed number of commercial licenses are issued. In 1980, the Washington Legislature limited the fishery to 258 licenses – down from more than 400 issued during the previous decade. Of those 258 licenses, 243 are still active. Each commercial license holders can generally use up to 100 pots, although they are limited to a smaller number in some areas.