Dungeness Crabbers, Strike Is Over!!! Dungeness Boats Enter 2017 Tied Up & On Strike, West Coast Dungeness Crabbers Fight For Fair Crab Price Per Pound, West Coast Fishermen Ban Together!

Oregon Dungeness Crab Boats Enter 2017 on Strike, West Coast Crab Fishermen Ban Together on Crab Price Per Pound!

Jan. 10, 2017 – Dungeness West Coast Strike is over, a deal was reached in Oregon! Oregon sets the dungeness price for the northern section of California, Oregon and Washington West Coast. This strike along the North Coast of CA, Oregon and Washington has pinched supplies in markets across California. Retail prices for crabs this year have ranged from $4.99 to $7.99 per pound. AMEN Dungeness Crab Strike is over, may all west coast dungeness crab captains, crew and their families be safe at sea and blessed on land and at sea this 2017!

Oregon and Washington Dungeness crab fishermen have gone on strike back in December 2016 after buyers moved to lower the per-pound prices paid for fishermen’s crab catch. Bodega Bay crab fishermen north through Oregon and Washington to the Canadian border went on strike after wholesale Dungeness crab buyers sought to lower the per-pound price fishermen earn for the much sought-after crustacean. Look into dungeness crab San Francisco for some of the nicest crab restaurants you can find around San Fran.

Dungeness Crabbers Enter 2017 Tied Up & On Strike, West Coast Dungeness Crabbers Fight For Fair Crab Price Per Pound, Go Fishermen!

Jan. 4, 2017 – West coast crab fishermen agreed back in Dec. 2016 to either cease crabbing in areas off the Sonoma Coast where the Dungeness crab season opened, or delay the start of their season with a goal of retaining the $3. Per pound price they have earned fishing in Northern California waters this prior information is according to Lorne Edwards, president and industry trade group, Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Marketing Association. Fishermen from Bodega Bay north were in agreement to the strike Wholesale buyers whom are offering $2.75 per pound, Edwards noted. “There’s going to be no crabbing from any port from Bodega Bay to the Washington, Canada border,” Edwards stated. “It’s huge, I’m not expecting a change until after New Year’s 2017.”

This west coast crab fishermen lead strike occurred because staggered season openings along the California coast meant that the price of crab has not been set in all fisheries. The varied season openings come as a result of high levels of Demonic acid detected in crabs in some areas. The work stoppage could affect prices and availability of Dungeness crab during the final stretch of peak annual demand, this then stretched through the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day of 2017, Edwards stated with more details.

Oregon Coast, Crab Fishing Eureka Harbor, Dungeness Crabbers West Coast, PNW

Now to get current and up to speed in December 2016, A group of US west coast Dungeness crab fishermen have said most of the fleet is on strike after a move from processor Pacific Seafood Group to lower ex-vessel prices. The Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association said in a press release that “nearly 1,200 boats, captains and crews” are now striking; this was epic news just before the end of the year.

Again the fishermen’s main focus and purpose to their main point of contention is what the group called a ‘surprise’ move by Pacific to demand a $2.75 per pound price from crabbers, lower than the $3.lb price negotiated at the start of the season. “Many fishermen believed that Pacific Group picked what was perceived as the weak link in West Coast Fishing Communities as a way of causing cascading price reductions in all West Coast ports that are fishing crabs north of San Francisco,” the association said in a prior press release, as they stated.

Fast forward to current time in early January 2017, “The news of the tie up in District 7 quickly spread both north and south on the U.S. West Coast. The Dungeness crab fleet is now tied up from Morro Bay, California in the south to Westport, Washington, on the north.” The association has made such comments. The scuttlebutt is that the smaller processors are willing to pay the $3.lb price but the current situation leaves them vulnerable to – retribution -from larger fishery west coast rivals.

FV Norma, Oregon Coast, Dungeness Crabbers Going Fishing

“For example: Smaller buyers purchased $3. lb crabs, then processed and flash froze those crabs for later sale, a larger company with substantial cash reserves could, in theory, depress the price for frozen crabs by selling frozen crabs at a loss,” the group said. “This could potentially put smaller companies into a forced position of selling their crab inventory at a significant loss, maybe to the point of financial insolvency for that small fish company. While this speculative example might seem extreme, these things have happened in the past.” The association said that it fears that Dungeness prices could be depressed “for years to come” if the $2.75/lb price holds.

Northern Oregon, crabbers who were set to start fishing at the New Year of 2017, they are still standing by until a deal is reached, said John Corbin, chairman of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. In southern Oregon, crabbers who had been fishing have tied up their boats, he said.

“The fishermen love that consumers love it. It is a beautiful product this year, but the fishermen need to be able to harvest it,” said Lisa Damrosch, vice president of the Half Moon Bay Groundfish Marketing Association.

Dungeness Dinner, West Coast Oregon Crabbers, Fighting for Fair Crab Price Per Pound! Boats Still on Strike!

The whole west coast is still tied up as we just entered 2017, stay tuned for the latest and greatest update. GO FISHERMEN & THEIR FAMILIES, stay firm & strong!