The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approved new rules for the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery on Aug. 14, including changes to experimental fishing gear and a new electronic monitoring requirement beginning in 2027.

The rules are part of Oregon’s ongoing effort to reduce the risk of protected whales becoming entangled in commercial crab gear, particularly the vertical lines connecting pots to surface buoys.

Under the changes, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) will have greater authority over Experimental Fishing Gear Permits, or EFGPs, used to test alternatives such as pop-up crab gear designed to reduce the amount of line in the water.

ODFW will be able to set permit conditions covering the amount of gear allowed, fishing areas, permit periods, gear marking, monitoring, training and reporting requirements. The vessel operator named on an experimental gear permit must also be onboard whenever that gear is being fished.

The department can limit the number of permits issued for individual gear types and select applicants based on the information it needs from experimental fishing. Permits may also be denied or revoked for certain commercial fishing violations or failure to follow permit conditions.

Experimental gear without a surface buoy will be required to use virtual gear marking, allowing the location of submerged gear to be identified without traditional surface lines and buoys.

The experimental gear changes took effect immediately.

A larger change for the fleet is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2027, when electronic monitoring will begin tracking where commercial crab vessels and their pots are operating.

The new requirements come as Oregon and other West Coast fisheries continue looking for ways to reduce whale entanglement risk while keeping commercial Dungeness crab fishermen on the water.