According to a report Oregon Dungeness crab is now proudly use the prestigious MSC label in its product. Most of the adult Dungeness crab are found in coastal waters less the 40m deep on soft bottom sandy and muddy habitats. Despite a lack of physical barriers to movement adult crabs generally remain relatively sedentary and only migrate inshore to mate during spring and summer months.
The fishing methods used in this fishery are mainly ‘pots.’ Dungeness crabs (Cancer magister) are caught in circular steel traps commonly called ‘pots’. After the catch Dungeness crabs are kept alive in tanks until they are delivered to a shoreside processor. The average boat fishes 300 to 500 pots, in depths ranging from 30 to 600 feet of water.
The catching methods are of different as each pots are set on open sand substrate and marked with a surface buoy. As they are not allowed to be linked in sequence (no longline configuration), there is little adverse physical effect of deployment and retrieval since pots are not dragged on the bottom or towed. Main market of Dungeness crabs are around the world but USA is the major market of this crab.
