SEQUIM — The Clallam Marine Resources Committee will offer four workshops in Jefferson and Clallam counties as part of a granted-funded outreach program designed to reduce the number of derelict crab pots.
At the workshops, presenters will talk about state crabbing regulations and seasoned crabbers will discuss their tricks of the trade with demonstrations of proper crab pot-rigging practices.
Programs are free but registration is required. To register visit the Clallam Marine Resources Committee website or Jefferson Marine Resources Committee website.
Clallam Marine Resources Committee’s workshops are June 11 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the John Wayne Marina, 2577 W. Sequim Bay Road, and June 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Carver Room of the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.
Rich Childers from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife will speak in addition to longtime crabber Dave Croonquist and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe shellfish biologist Liz Tobin. At the second Clallam County Workshop, Childers and Tobin will be accompanied by crabber Don Hatler.
Crabbing 101 programs in Jefferson County will take place June 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Marina Room at Point Hudson in Port Townsend and June 26 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Washington State University Extension classroom, 97 Oak Bay Road in Port Hadlock.
Speakers will include Childers, crabbing veteran Troy McKelvey and Don Williams, who serves on the Crab Advisory Committee for the WDFW Commission.
Each year, an estimated 12,000 crab pots are lost in the Salish Sea and continue to capture crab with no one to harvest them.
This leads to the mortality of nearly 180,000 harvestable crab every year, according to the Northwest Straits Foundation.
The foundation has been awarded a $221,200 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Marine Debris Program to help it prevent crab pots from becoming derelict.
Along with matching funds, this grant will fund a three-year derelict crab pot removal and outreach project in Port Townsend and Dungeness Bays.
From 2019 to 2021, the foundation will conduct three consecutive years of crab pot removals and support the creation and implementation of a recreational crabber outreach campaign.
The goal is to remove a minimum of 1,000 derelict crab pots, clear derelict fishing gear from 5,263 acres of marine habitat and protect 15,000 Dungeness crab per year just in Port Townsend and Dungeness Bays.
Derelict crab pots are a serious issue impacting the Salish Sea ecosystem, according to the foundation.
The work of the Northwest Straits Foundation and the Marine Resources Committees of Clallam and Jefferson counties promotes the idea of “Catch More Crab,” a program that promotes ways to prevent loss of crab pots.
The Salish Sea stretches for 6,535 square miles and is home to an abundance of marine organisms including the Dungeness crab.
