California's Dungeness Crab: Conserving the Resource and Increasing the Net Economic Value of the Fishery

Along the Pacific coast (CA/OR/WA), the historical mainstays of the fishing industry have been thePacific salmon, groundfish, and Dungeness crab fisheries. However, recent cuts in allowablelandings of salmon and groundfish have shifted fishing effort toward crab. Diminishingopportunities in salmon and groundfish in California will further increase fishing effort onDungeness crabs, resulting in the intensifying derby that now characterizes the fishery andimposing increased pressure on stocks at deeper depths. Projected increased fishing effort will alsolikely create new biological conservation concerns for Dungeness crab populations and diminish itsnet economic value of the fishery.