Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery is facing additional regulatory changes as the state works to address whale entanglements and move forward with a federal permit that could shape future fishing operations.
Many of the recent changes in the fishery are tied to conservation plan required for Oregon to obtain an incidental take permit under Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act. The permit would allow the fishery to have some level of impact on endangered humpback whale populations, according to reporting from KMUN. State fishery managers said the application process is underway, but it could take several years before a permit is issued.
At an industry meeting in Astoria, hosted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, staff briefed commercial crabbers on potential regulatory changes connected to the conservation plan. Those under consideration include electronic vessel monitoring, the use of experimental fishing gear, and making a temporary early closure of the fishery permanent.
Crabbers at the meeting focused much of their attention on the federal permit and what it could mean for the fishery, particularly how many whale entanglements might be allowed.
“Are we talking about one whale? Are we talking about 10 whales? Are we talking about different varieties of whales?” asked Lance Gray told KMUN, a crabber who fishes the Columbia River areas in both Oregon and Washington state. “I mean, that is so huge for us and where we’re going with our lives: that somebody’s going to come to us and say, ‘If you entangle one gray whale’ — which I’m sure there are people that feel that way — ‘that you should be closed down.’ That’s what we’re trying to figure out here.”
According to NOAA Fisheries, Oregon Dungeness crab fishing gear entangled three humpback whales in 2024 and four in 2025. Many of the humpback whale populations that migrate past Oregon are considered threatened or endangered.
One widely publicized case in late 2025 involved an entangled juvenile humpback whale stranded alive near Yachats. The whale was euthanized after efforts to free it were unsuccessful. The entanglement involved derelict commercial crabbing gear and there was no active commercial crabbing at the time.
State fishery managers said increasing interactions between whales and crab gear are the result of several factors, including a growing humpback population, shifting ocean conditions that create overlap between whales and fishing gear and improved reporting of entanglements.
Crabbers raised concerns about how entanglements would be counted, particularly in cases involving lost or abandoned gear. Others pointed to the need for more data such as information from aerial surveys and whale movement overlap.
In Dec. 2025, a group including the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the American Cetacean Society petitioned the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission t adopt additional rules to reduce whale entanglement risk and continue efforts to obtain Endangered Species Act coverage.
The commission voted 6-1 in Feb. to deny the petition, noting that much of the requested work was already underway or under consideration.
