Helping Oregon’s endangered crab season after fire

By Oregon State Representative Cyrus Javadi,
and Oregon State Senator Suzanne Weber,
Press Release,

Last week, a massive fire destroyed hundreds of crab pots at the Bornstein Foods seafood plant in Ilwaco, Washington, right across the mouth of the Columbia River from Astoria. The loss of property threatens the Northwest Oregon crabbing season, as many of those crab pots were rigged, tagged, and stacked on the dock ready to go for “dump day,” January 29th, the first day pots can be dumped in the ocean.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is actively working with the crabbers who had gear destroyed and registered with the State of Washington to quickly get new required identification tags for any new crab pots. They will also give a temporary grace period to allow crabbers who had pots destroyed in the fire to operate with unlicensed pots until the registration process is complete.

Representative Cyrus Javadi and Senator Suzanne Weber have communicated with the Director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to ensure they were offering the same relief to crabbers who had pots licensed in Oregon. The Director quickly responded and assured them that all 1,320 Oregon tags impacted by the fire would be reissued in time for “dump day” at no extra cost.
“The fishing and crabbing industry is the backbone of the North Oregon Coast. Our local economy depends on their ability to bring in the highest quality seafood to feed Oregonians and the nation,” Senator Weber (R, Tillamook) said.

“I want to thank Director Melcher for his swift action and the whole department for responding quickly to give our crabbers some much-needed regulatory flexibility during this difficult time,” Representative Javadi (R, Tillamook) said.

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