Speaker: Katelyn Bosley, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Topic: Dungeness Crab in the Salish Sea: A Story of Collaborative Resource Management and Stewardship for a Sustainable Fishing Future

Throughout its range, Dungeness crab serve as the backbone to many West Coast communities who rely on the species due to its cultural, ecological, and economic significance. In Washington state, Dungeness crab fisheries are co-managed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and 21 treaty tribes. This unique management structure was put into place following the 1994 federal court ruling known as the ‘Rafeedie decision’ which reaffirmed treaty harvest rights and required 50:50 sharing of shellfish resources between the treaty tribes and the citizens of Washington. In following the provisions of the court order, the Dungeness crab resource in the Puget Sound region is collaboratively comanaged between the WDFW and Tribal nations across a complex landscape of spatial management areas, each with its own set of technical and policy challenges. With emerging concerns over the increasing threat of anthropogenic stressors and climate change on Dungeness crab population health, comanagers have collectively centered around the need to acquire more scientific data and information to better understand changes in Puget Sound crab populations and potential impacts to fisheries. The Pacific Crab Research Group (PCRG) was formed in 2018 to facilitate collaboration and prioritize research needs to inform the development of adaptive fishery management practices. The PCRG is now comprised of over 60 partnering entities and has initiated several collaborative projects including an ongoing larval monitoring network designed to assess recruitment patterns across the Salish Sea.