Price dispute delays Washington crab harvest

WESTPORT, Wash. – A price dispute has delayed the start of the Washington crab harvest, causing boats to remain docked as negotiations continue between fishermen and wholesale buyers.

The season was supposed to open last Friday, but Ray Toste, who owns four crab boats and is president of the Washington Dungeness Crab Fishermen’s Association, said crabbers had never been more unified.

“I have never seen it like this in 40 years,” Toste told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “Everyone is tied up.”

Washington has 228 boats with commercial crab permits along the coast, and the coastal Dungeness harvest accounts for about 70 percent of the state’s total catch of about 20 million to 30 million pounds a year.

Neither side has disclosed figures, but the Post-Intelligencer reported that wholesale buyers have been offering about $1.40 a pound while crabbers are seeking slightly more than $1.60 a pound – a difference of $20,000 for a season catch of 100,000 pounds.

Toste said that’s enough to make the difference between finishing in the black or the red.

“We were getting nearly the same amount 25 years ago,” Toste said. “Our costs – fuel, for example – have gone way up since then.”

Glen White, general manager of Washington Crab Processors Inc., indicated Wednesday the gap may soon be eliminated, explaining the company would be willing to pay $1.60 a pound for top-quality crab.

Testing for quality is planned today, and if it’s good enough to pay that price the issue will likely be resolved, he said.

“I believe the boats will be fishing in all the open areas by Dec. 10,” White said.

Under federal court rulings, coastal tribes are entitled to begin taking crab 40 days before the nontribal commercial fleet.

As a result, settlement of the price dispute today would mean commercial fishing would start only along 13 miles between the mouth of the Columbia River and Klipsan Beach, about halfway up the Long Beach Peninsula, and in Willapa Bay. The rest of the coast would be open in early January.