SEATTLE Crab Fleet Taken Hostage by Republican Patriots
The Bristol Bay red king crab season is set to open Oct. 15, with a harvest of 8.6 million pounds, similar to last year. catch;At Pure Foods Fish at Pike Place Market, king crab is currently $34.50 per pound. “I could see it going up to $40 a pound, even without the issue we’re having here,” said Sean Lakeside at Pure Foods Fish. Kodiak’s waterfront is bedecked with hundreds of “7-bys,” the big, heavy crab pots, as boats stack their gear for major fisheries in the Bering Sea. Nearly 500 eligible vessels and companies have applied for 2013/2014 crab quotas,
based on KIRO and other sources:
Keith Colburn, a crab fisherman featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” said
“Collectively, the fleet already has (spent) millions of dollars out of pocket just gearing up for the season,” Colburn said. “Each day tied to the docks will cost these boats thousands more. Many fishermen and coastal communities are already facing tough times. This unnecessary shutdown may be the tipping point if the situation isn’t resolved soon.”
Capt. Moore Dye of the Western Mariner fishing vessel said “The king crab season is like the Super Bowl of crab fishing. It’s short, it’s a lot of money, really fast,” Dye said.
Dye is feeling other effects of the shutdown, besides the lack of permits. Even looking up a forecast is complicated. “I went on my website this morning to get the offshore forecast for the trip across, but the NOAA website was down.”
Plus, the U.S. Coast Guard sent a letter to owners and operators of commercial fishing vessels, saying coast guard inspectors would not be able to incur travel costs. So any required safety examinations will have to be done where the inspectors are located.
Rep. Suzan Del Bene (D) said: “This is unacceptable. Our fishermen deserve better than this. Their families deserve better than this. The processors, suppliers and other businesses that rely on a vibrant Alaskan king crab season all deserve better than this,” she said. The ripple effect can be felt from the fishing vessels to the market, where king crab is sold.