Tribe, fishers team up to collect crab data

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s fishers and scientists are working together to better manage Dungeness crab for tribal harvest.

Working side by side conducting crab surveys this winter, both brought their expertise to the water within Admiralty Inlet that is part of the tribe’s usual and accustomed fishing area.

The tribe has seen its annual crab harvest quota fluctuate from 800,000 pounds in 2012 to 275,000 pounds in 2024, said Courtney Hart, the tribe’s crustacean manager.

“We know very little about these fluctuations and expect that they range throughout the management areas and hope this research will help us figure it out,” she said.

In partnership with the regional Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group (PCRG), the tribe and shellfish scientists want a better idea of the crab population sizes and location to improve management in this specific region. In addition to using a random sampling method developed by the state, the tribe’s fishers are guiding the work with their knowledge of where currents are too strong to set pots and places where crab are scarce.

“I like to go with the fishermen because they know what they’re doing,” Hart said. “How we’re collecting the data is an exact mimic of their job as fishermen.”

Tribal fishermen Brad Abad prepares to set a crab pot while Tyler Sullivan looks on. Tiffany Royal

Using 30 commercial grade crab pots with secured escape rings, pots are dropped at various depths in the water column—shallow, mid and deep—because crab move between these depths depending on life stages such as molting, spawning and migrating. After the crab pots are left to soak overnight, data is collected from trapped males and females before they are released back into the inlet. The tribe plans to do another round of data collection this summer.

In addition to conducting the biomass survey, Hart hopes to establish at least two index sites where the tribe can conduct annual test fisheries, something that tribal fishers have wanted.

“There are test fisheries for crab throughout Puget Sound but they do not cover all the areas,” she said. The state tests four spots near Port Townsend for this specific region, and the tribe wants to expand the sampling area. This will support the tribe’s understanding of a fishery that’s vital to many tribal members, Hart said.

This project was supported by funding from the Washington Department of Commerce’s Tribal Climate Resilience Grant, which enables the tribe to pay the fishers for their time on the water, Hart said.

Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe shellfish biologist Emma Saas, left, and crustacean manager Courtney Hart review locations for setting crab pots. Story and photos: Tiffany Royal