Crabs are raining in this Oregon crab season while there have been reports of a weak Dungeness crab harvest off the coast of California. Officials in Oregon has confirmed that things are much better here, with preliminary numbers showing the season to be right on track. Earlier this week, a report from Half Moon Bay, California stated many commercial fishermen in California, Oregon and Washington were struggling due to a weak crab harvest.
Nick Furman with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission says Oregon’s crab landings for the month of December are actually up. According to him this year fishermen in Oregon have landed 7,424,000 pounds of crab. In December of ’07, for the entire month of December, Oregon fishermen had landed 7,472,000, so it can be said that they are right on track because the month isn’t up yet.
Furman also told that domestically Oregon fishermen have already pulled in 1.7 million pounds of crab, over half a million pounds more than last year at this time. The good season of crab is mainly due to the good weather. Furman opined that now they will have to wait and see what happens in January, but he’s staying cautiously optimistic. He added that the landings in January really make a difference to see how close it get to last year’s harvest.
