Record crab price, lower volume: Commercial crabbing commences amid steep competition

The 2025 Washington commercial crab season is officially in full swing, with several local crabbers delivering their first offloads of the season on Thursday, Jan. 16, at local ports along the Long Beach Peninsula.”There are a lot of jumbos, nice and hard two-pounders. It’s a very good product.” reported Florian Mumford, captain of the F/V Vengeance.

Fishermen reported strong currents and steep competition among the opening-day hurdles, leading to lower-than-normal catch volumes. However, the $5.75 opening record price from processors has been a huge relief, up from $3.50 last season. “We’re getting a really good price,” said F/V Jeannie Irene captain Kelsey Cutting. “It’s going to make up for there not being a lot of volume.”

Steep competition, record price

After a roughly six-week delay to start the season, largely due to low-meat yield, fishermen officially got the green light to begin pulling pots Wednesday morning, Jan. 15, where they were met with calm but crowded seas. “There’s more boats and crab pots in the water than I’ve ever seen out there in the past 24 years,” Cutting said. “There’s a lot of competition this year.”

While it’s not uncommon for vessels from other areas to come to local waters for the lucrative commercial crab season, the sheer number this season has surprised local crabbers. “There’s a lot of guys from Westport and from California, because they have a lot of whale entanglement issues. They had a pot reduction [in California] and a lot of those guys are coming up and buying Oregon and Washington crab permits,” Cutting said.

Last season, more than 10 million pounds, or 60% of the total catch statewide catch, was caught in the area from the Columbia River north to Pt. Chehalis (Westport), including the ultra crab-rich waters just off Long Beach. “Here on the lower coast of Washington has had the highest season [harvest] the last couple years in this area, so it’s drawn a lot of people here — and it’s showing,” Cutting said. “I ran a lot of gear for that 30,000 [pounds of crab]. Typically, in a normal year, I would have gotten 30,000 with a few hundred less pots.”

The $5.75 opening price this season is a new record, exceeding the previous high of $5.19 set during the first 30 days of the 2021-22 season. Low existing inventory and slower volume so far this season has led to a higher price processors are willing to pay. “Southern Oregon opened a month ago, and they’re not catching like they normally do,” Cutting said. “The tribes [above Westport] are down 35% from last year. It’s driving the price up. There’s not a lot of crab on the market. But from what I’ve seen, we’re going to need [the high price to make up for lower volume].” Still, there’s reason to believe the best fishing is still ahead. “Our best trip last year was our third trip, five days into the season,” Cutting said.

Squirrelly current

While the ocean surface conditions were favorable, a strong current underneath made for some “long and slow” opening days for local fishermen. “The current is a little squirrelly and it’s a little slow compared to last year,” said F/V Vengeance captain Florian Mumford upon arriving to the Port of Ilwaco Thursday afternoon, Jan. 16, following a 19-hour trip that began Wednesday morning. “We probably got around 14,000 pounds,” said Mumford, who was fishing with crew Erik Ervest, Mark Hippensteel and Devlin Molin. “For a three-day soak, I was hoping for a little better than what we got.”

Despite the slow fishing, Mumford, a commercial crabber since 1996, was pleased with the price and the overall product. “There are a lot of jumbos, nice and hard two-pounders. It’s a very good product. They’re at 23% on the meat, that’s kind of what we were waiting on,” he said.

Following a 72-hour soak, fishermen began pulling their pots Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. on relatively calm seas, but a tricky current. “The weather was fine, but the current … usually we like it to have it north or south, but it was kind of coming another direction [from the west] and corkscrewing everyone,” Mumford said. “It just made for a longer day. The price is good, that’s what it needs to be. Now we just need to have a little bit more volume.”