Annual Puget Sound Recreational Dungeness Crab Creel Report: Summer 2023

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Puget Sound Shellfish Team implemented creels of recreational crabbers in Puget Sound to monitor fishery compliance, effort, and promote education within the Puget Sound recreational Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) and red rock crab (Cancer productus) fisheries. Various boat ramps and piers with a range of high to low use volume were monitored from July 1, 2023, through September 4, 2023. Most surveys were conducted between late morning and late afternoon, when crabbing effort is generally highest. In addition to monitoring effort and catch rates, fishery compliance, such as recording of retained Dungeness crab on Catch Record Cards, possession of female and softshell Dungeness crab, and possession of undersized Dungeness and red rock crab was assessed to better understand the extent of undocumented catch, compliance issues, and educational needs. During the summer 2023 crab season in Puget Sound, 30 sites were surveyed, 1,536 boats contacted, 2,282 harvesters interviewed, 2,006 Catch Record Cards checked, and 7,906 Dungeness crab and 1,426 red rock crab sampled for compliance and biological data.

The summer 2023 recreational crab season marked the first year that creels were conducted by full-time WDFW Shellfish staff with the primary task of monitoring Puget Sound’s recreational crab fishery since 2017. The results from the summer 2023 crab creel effort described here are exploratory and should guide how a more statistically robust survey design should be implemented in the following years.