Quality of crab looks promising.

Byline: LARRY BACON The Register-Guard

Oregon's commercial Dungeness crab season opens Saturday, but how soon you will be able to buy fresh-caught crab in your local seafood market remains a question mark.

Crab fishermen and the seafood processors who buy their catch haven't reached an agreement on price yet, and fishermen may choose to remain tied up as they did last year for six days into the season until they get a satisfactory offer.

Stormy weather and rough seas are forecast for the next several days. Nick Furman of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission said the weather may keep the crab fleet from getting to sea to set their pots in advance of the season opener and may keep them in port even after the season begins.

But the good news, he said, is that this season's crabs are expected to be prime.

"Big, full of meat and of excellent quality," Furman said.

Fishermen know that because biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife did some pre-season sampling at four locations along the Oregon Coast last month and earlier this month and found the crabs to be fully developed and ready for harvest. That contrasts with last year, when problems with soft shells and low meat content caused the season on the north coast to be postponed until Dec. 18. Still unknown is how many crabs are out there.

"We don't have an abundance predictor," said Rod Kaiser of the fish and wildlife department.

Last year's catch of 7.4 million pounds was below Oregon's average of 9 million pounds and considerably below the previous year's landings of 15.1 million pounds. Furman acknowledges being overly optimistic about last year's catch and said he's not making any predictions about this year's.

Even though the 2000-01 season was disappointing to some, fishermen got good prices for the crabs they did catch. The amount they were paid - $15.1 million - was the fifth best season in Oregon history from a dollar standpoint. The average price paid to fishermen, $2.12 per pound, set a record.

Last year, the opening price that buyers paid to fishermen was $1.60 per pound and quickly jumped to $1.75. This season processors reportedly made an initial offer of $1.40 per pound, and fishermen were asking $1.65 to $1.75.

Strong market conditions drove prices up last year, Furman said, but it's uncertain how much demand there will be this season for crab - viewed by consumers as a "luxury" food - in a sagging economy. The industry will make a strong effort in December to market crab, Furman said.

Furman and Kaiser expect the number of boats participating in the Oregon fishery to approximate last year's total, when 327 made landings. State regulations allow boats to place their "pots" - baited steel and wire crab traps - on the ocean bottom beginning at 8 a.m. today. An average crab boat works about 500 pots, lined up in rows and marked with floating buoys distinctive to each fisherman.

Hauling the hundreds of pots to sea makes the boats somewhat top heavy. Furman said fishermen may be reluctant to venture into the rough water expected today with hundreds of pots on deck. Storm waves also tend to scatter the pots when they are first placed, he said.

Last year Oregon fishermen placed about 140,000 crab pots, worth about $135 apiece. Pot numbers have increased dramatically in the last five years, Kaiser said, and this may be the last year boats are allowed to fish unlimited pots.

Kaiser has been working with a crabbing industry group on a proposal to limit the number of pots each boat is allowed to fish. The group expects to make a recommendation to the fish and wildlife commission next spring.

Many fishermen like the idea of a pot limit, Furman said, because it would cut their costs by eliminating a need to fish more pots to keep up with other boats. Competition is fierce at the beginning of the season, Kaiser said, because 80 to 85 percent of the catch takes place in the first two months even though crab fishing lasts until Aug. 15.

Any action to limit pots would be aimed at helping fishermen's pocketbooks as much as protecting the fishery, Kaiser said, with the goal of stabilizing what has become a kind of "arms race" of crab gear proliferation among fishermen.

OREGON CRAB CATCHES

1996-97: 7 million pounds landed, $13.3 million paid to fishermen.

1997-98: 7 million pounds landed, $12.4 million paid to fishermen.

1998-99: 9.1 million pounds landed, $16.2 million paid to fishermen.

1999-2000: 15.6 million pounds landed, $31.5 million paid to fishermen.

2000-2001: 7.4 million pounds landed, $15.1 million paid to fishermen.

CAPTION(S):

A fisherman prepares for crab before the 2000 season. Officials predict this year's catch will be of good quality.