A worker at Bell Buoy moved heavy tubs of crab into the plant, for processing on Jan. 5.

ILWACO and CHINOOK — It’s only a few days into this year’s commercial Dungeness crab season and fishermen already believe they are looking at a better run than last year.

Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, won’t have initial landing numbers for another week or so but, he said, “The word we’re getting from the fleet is that it looks better than last year.”

After getting the all-clear from state health departments, Oregon and Washington’s commercial Dungeness crab fishermen finally hit the water Jan. 4 after being delayed for weeks due to elevated levels of the marine toxin domoic acid. The season traditionally opens Dec. 1, though it has been pushed back into January before when crabs have not reached proper size. A delay beyond Christmastime is particularly difficult for crabbing families who rely on those paychecks for holiday spending.

The toxin shut down nearly half of the Washington coastline to commercial crabbing last summer. Though the price per pound had been high and the crab looked big and healthy, landings had been few and far between through the winter and spring. When the 90-mile-long closure was announced, the season ended, abruptly, on an already low note.

The opener went smoothly off the Washington coast this week, though, according to Ayres. There were no reports of vessel accidents or other emergencies nor any reports of illegal gear-setting. For the first time, the coastwide start time for Washington opener was shifted from midnight to 9 a.m., giving fishermen those extra hours to rest between setting their first loads of gear and then fishing.

Though reports of high domoic acid levels — and warnings of the deadly effects of the toxin on humans who consume contaminated seafood — filled media reports along the West Coast leading up to the opener, the industry is confident in both the safety of the crab now and consumers’ desire to still eat crab.

“Most of the concerns seemed to be, ‘When is it going to open and when can I buy it?’” said Hugh Link, director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, which also helps the Oregon fleet with marketing and advertising.

Initial price

Link says the issues with domoic acid and the delayed start date did not seem to complicate price negotiations in Oregon. Commercial crabbers started the season at $2.90 per pound.

Last year, the fleet started at around $3.10 per pound, but that price quickly climbed. The average price for the 2014-15 season reached about $4.11, but landings were low and the total value of Oregon’s catch came to just $33.7 million.

The Dungeness crab fishery remains closed in California. If and when it does open, Washington and Oregon fishermen who also hold California crabbing licenses will operate under a delay and will have to wait a certain number of days after the California crabbers begin fishing before they can fish those waters too.

The three states, which run the Dungeness crab fishery under a tri-state agreement, plan to meet later this year to develop a more streamlined set of protocols for dealing with future domoic acid related closures.

“All the states agree that’s needed,” Ayres said. “We just need to let the smoke settle for the current season opener.”

On Jan. 4, WDFW also announced a tentative schedule for recreational razor clam digs. The first dig is scheduled for Thursday in Long Beach. The digs, popular in both Oregon and Washington, were shut down last spring after levels of domoic acid in the clams skyrocketed well above health department thresholds of 20 parts per million. Levels remained high during the fall and early December. But currently, only one clam tested by the state has come back with levels at 19 parts per million, according to Ayres.

Clams are a key dietary item for Dungeness crab.

“There’s no new toxin in the water, we know that,” Ayres said, later adding, “We’re pretty confident it’s not going to jet up to 110 parts per million like it did last spring.”

But WDFW will still continue regular testing as required by the state. Ayres said that though it is unlikely that domoic levels will jump up again, it’s possible fishery managers could still run into a batch of clams that are holding onto the toxin at unsafe levels. If that happens, WDFW will have to cancel any digs and hope for another round of clean tests.

“It could end up being a little bumpy at the start,” Ayres said.