Crabbers reach deal over price.

Byline: JACK MORAN The Register-Guard

Fish market owners and shoppers hoping to include Oregon Dungeness crab on their holiday menus breathed a collective sigh of relief Saturday when they learned that crabbers and the processors who buy their catch had settled a price dispute that has kept local crab out of stores since the season began Dec. 10.

"I'm extremely relieved that we can finally get crabs in here," said Dwight Collins, owner of Newman's Fish Co. in Eugene. "We've lost a lot of sales so far in December that we won't be able to make up, but for us, this happened just in time."

Collins said he expects to have crab in stock by Monday, "when a lot of people will surely be out looking for it."

And the price will match demand. Collins expects to sell the fresh crab for $4.99 a pound, about a buck and a half more than it generally goes for at the opening of the season. That price will probably dip a little lower after the holidays, he said.

Many people are willing to pay a bit more this time of year, he said, because crab is becoming traditional holiday fare. "It's surprising to me to see how in the Northwest, crab has become a very popular Christmas Eve dinner," he said.

During a coastwide conference call on Friday night, crabbers from San Francisco to Astoria agreed to end the price dispute after learning that crabbers in Westport, Wash., had begun selling their crab to processors for $1.40 a pound, fisherman Richard Lilienthal said. Oregon crabbers were hoping to get about $1.60 a pound.

Last year's initial settlement was for $1.60, and the average price for the season was $1.78 a pound.

Lilienthal said crabbers weren't thrilled with the deal. But he said they didn't have much of a choice because the Washington port had already made an agreement with buyers.

"Once one port breaks, the price is pretty much set for everyone," said Lilienthal, who fishes from a 58-foot crab boat out of Charleston. "We lost 15 cents last year, another 20 cents now, and it looks like we're on a downhill slide."

Genevieve Bailey of Florence, who operates a crab boat out of Charleston, said she also was not happy with the settlement. "They're all fishing for $1.40, so the rest of us have to go for $1.40," Bailey said.

But crabbers wasted no time getting to work. Lilienthal said most had their boats under way within hours of the deal late Friday night.

The commercial crab season officially began on the Southern Oregon coast and in Northern California on Dec. 1. The season on the northern Oregon coast and in Washington began Dec. 10, but the dispute put a halt to nearly all commercial crab fishing in the Pacific Northwest.

A limited amount of Dungeness crab has found its way into the marketplace from a Washington tribal fishery and a San Francisco-area crab fishery. Prices have hovered about $5 a pound. During most years, shoppers looking for crab in mid- to late-December have been able to buy the product for $3 to $3.50 a pound.

About 75 percent of the annual crab catch in Oregon occurs during the first eight weeks of the season. Prices generally rise as crabs become less abundant during a season that continues through Aug. 15.

Now that a deal with processors has been reached, crabbers have to battle the sea, which caused a problem for one group of fishermen on Saturday morning.

About 10 a.m., a crew of seven crabbers working near Waldport sent a distress signal to the Coast Guard's Yaquina Bay station because of uncontrollable flooding in the boat's engine room. The owner of the 70-foot Golden Dolphin fishing vessel, John Darryle, 54, of Newport, said de-watering pumps on the boat could not keep up with the incoming seawater.

The Coast Guard responded with two rescue boats and a helicopter and reached the vessel in time to deliver a pair of pumps to Darryle's boat, which allowed the vessel to stem the flooding, the Coast Guard said. The boat was escorted back to Newport safely.