Change California Crab Opener

**The following are some proposals of the Del Norte Fishermen Marketing Association in Crescent City, CA. We would like to stress that this is only a first rough draft. We would encourage all California dungeness crab industry members, including the California DFG, to circulate and discuss these proposals. We are striving to achieve what is best for all industry members.

Our goal is to be able to implement any changes to the dungeness crab code in the CA legislature for the 2007-2008 season. Therefore, we ask that effort be made to complete any discussion and/or changes by the end of February of 2007.

Questions/comments may be forwarded to delnortefma@yahoo.com.

We would like to propose a change to the opening date in California districts 6, 7, 8, and 9 to January 1^st. In addition, if any California Dungeness Crab permitted vessel fishes outside of California before the proposed January 1^st opener, that vessel would be subject to a 60 day delay before being allowed to fish in California waters.

We believe this change in dates holds many benefits for the California dungeness crab fishery. The later the season would begin, the higher the likelihood of the dungeness crab being in harvestable condition to start the season. This protects our markets and helps insure that we are always giving a top quality product to the processors and consumers. History has shown that out of state vessels have had problems sticking together as a fleet when it comes to coast wide pre-season crab quality. Conflicting agendas coming out of the State of Oregon have made cooperating extremely difficult, if not impossible. Because there is a limited number of large out of state vessels that also fish Alaska’s January 15^th crab opener, they feel it is more important to start the fishing season earlier rather than wait for a better quality crab. Because California then feels the fishing pressure from these large out of state boats, the California fleet begins fishing earlier than they would have liked. We believe that by separating our season from that of Washington and Oregon, it allows the state of California and the California fleet to assess crab quality and to continue with quality decisions without the outside influence of Oregon.

Some additional amendments to these changes include:

1. Hold inspections may need to be implemented.

2. We would like to suggest that District 10 moves to a Dec 1 opener. This would decrease the influx of out of state vessels to district 10 for the earlier opener.

3. If District 10 stays with a November 15^th opener, those vessels that fish in district 10 would have to have all of their gear out of the water on November 30^th in order to fish in districts 6, 7, 8, or 9 on January 1st, or else will be subject to the 60 day delay for districts 6, 7, 8, or 9.

4. There is feeling that there may be some disagreement from other California ports on the Jan. 1 opener, with some preferring a Dec. 15^th. If only a December 15^th opener can be achieved, the State of California may have to sanction the preseason quality tests.

5. We would also like to set a control date of July 15^th, 2006 for potential California pot limit, which has already been agreed upon by California fishermen.

Other things to think about:

1. If we want hold inspections, fishermen will be the ones footing the bill for those inspections. Could those vessels that fish in both districts pay for an inspection on an individual basis? Or would all vessels be subject to hold inspections, regardless if they traveled or not.

2. There is feeling that there may be some disagreement from other California ports on the Jan. 1 opener, with some preferring a Dec. 15^th.

3. Include district 10 for a Jan. 1 opener. This would limit the number of out of area boats traveling district 10 and essentially having 2 openers. This would result in a “pick your area” fishery.

4. What happens to those boats in California that want to fish in Oregon? Once the season is opened in California, would those California vessels with out of state permits be allowed to then fish in out of state? If so, the other states may come up with a way to counteract that.

With the signing of the Magnuson-Stevens act and LE200, can we amend something that says if a crab is caught in California, that crab has to be delivered in California? This could potentially allow us to hold out for a better quality product without being pressured by out of state vessels for and early season.