Dungeness crab fishing back on after West Coast fishermen, seafood processors reach deal

An 11-day strike by thousands of West Coast crab fishermen has ended after a successful negotiation of prices with seafood processors.

The agreement reached late Friday will restart the sputtering season for much-sought-after Dungeness crabs in Northern California, Oregon and Washington.

The Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association told KRCR-TV in Eureka that the crabbers had settled on a price of $2.875 per pound of crabs with major buyer Pacific Choice Seafood.

The processors had initially agreed to $3 a pound in early December, then backed off to $2.75, which led to the strike. The agreed-upon price is halfway between those figures.

The association said the deal was reached in Oregon, which sets the price for the entire coast.

Bernie Lindley, a crab fisherman in Brookings, Oregon, said he has mixed feelings about the price.

“Happy? I don’t know,” Lindley told the Curry Coastal Pilot. “In a successful negotiation, nobody’s happy and nobody’s pissed. For me, personally, I wish it would’ve been resolved more fairly for the fishermen.”

The strike left crab pots empty in Sonoma County and much of the state during what is normally a busy part of the season.