OLYMPIA — There will be up to another six weeks of late summer and fall halibut season as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife added more halibut dates in the Strait of Juan de Fuca beginning today and lasting to the end of September.
“Spring halibut catches and effort were lower than anticipated, which means we have sufficient remaining quota to offer more harvest opportunity,” said Lorna Wargo, WDFW intergovernmental ocean policy coordinator. “The proposed schedule for August and September reflects angler input and expands late season opportunity compared to previous years.”
The 2024 fishing season is based on statewide recreational quota of 299,781 pounds with 116,227 pounds remaining from the spring and June season.
This approach, which has been in place since 2019, has allocated a total of 1.65 million pounds to all halibut fisheries off the West Coast and Puget Sound in 2024. The consistent annual allocation provides stability for recreational fisheries from year to year.
The additional 2024 outer coast and Puget Sound halibut dates, subject to available Washington quota include:
Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound (Marine areas 5, 6, 7, from Sekiu to Port Townsend): Open from Friday through Sept. 30.
Outer Pacific Coast — Neah Bay and La Push (Marine areas 3 and 4): Open daily from Friday through Sept. 30.
Westport/Ocean Shores (Marine Area 2): The all-depth fishery will open from Aug. 22 through Sept. 3, and Sept. 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17,19, 22, 24, 26 and 29.
Tacoma, Vashon Island, the Hood Canal and the southern Puget Sound (Marine Areas 11, 12 and 13) are all closed.
In all marine areas open to halibut fishing, there is a one-fish daily catch limit and no minimum size restriction. The possession limit is two daily in any form, except only one daily limit while aboard a fishing vessel.
Anglers must record their catch on a WDFW catch record card. New for 2024, the annual limit is six halibut per angler; a two-line catch record card (CRC) is available free of charge for those who have obtained a four-line CRC. Anglers cannot fish for, retain, possess or land halibut into a port located within an area closed to halibut fishing, except anglers can land halibut that they lawfully retained in Marine Area 5 (Sekiu) into a port within Marine Area 4 (Neah Bay) when Marine Area 4 is closed.
Fishing regulations include depth restrictions and area closures designed to reduce encounters with yelloweye rockfish, which must be released under state and federal law.
Anglers can find complete information on recreational halibut fishing regulations and seasons on the WDFW halibut webpage at www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/halibut.
Added days of crabbing
OLYMPIA — The Puget Sound recreational summer crab-fishing seasons will have two additional days on Aug. 27-28 in most marine areas, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced earlier this week.
“With the addition of these two crabbing days in many Puget Sound marine areas (except Marine Areas 10 and 11), the pre-Labor Day summer fishery will be similar to the recent year average season length,” said Don Velasquez, WDFW crustacean biologist.
Aug. 27-28 are being added to the previously announced summer recreational crab seasons in all Strait of Juan de Fuca waters of Marine Area 4 east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line and Marine areas 5 (Sekiu), 6 (Lyre River to Port Townsend) and 9 (Admiralty Inlet to Hood Canal). Most Tuesdays and Wednesdays are closed to crabbing.
Crabbing in Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) south of a line projected true east from Ayock Point is closed until further notice.
Recreational crabbers should target the portion of the day with the least tide exchange and make sure their crab pots are properly weighted down during these extreme low tides to avoid traps moving and becoming lost.
Crabbers are also reminded to avoid deploying crab pots and gear in ferry lanes.
The daily limit throughout Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6¼ inches. Crabbers may also keep six red rock crab of either sex per day in open areas, provided the crab are in hard-shell condition and measure at least five inches carapace width.
Puget Sound crabbers are required to record their harvest of Dungeness crab on their catch record cards (CRC) immediately after retaining the crab and before re-deploying the trap.
A CRC is not required to fish for Dungeness crab in the Columbia River or on the Washington coast, where crabbing is open year-round.
