3MMI - 2018 Washington & Oregon Dungeness Crab Update

EP 378 | Aired 03/19/2018

Market Update on Dungeness Crab for Washington & Oregon

March 19th, 2018 - In this week's epsiode we will discuss Dungeness Crab on the West Coast. Dungeness Crab on the West coast is managed by the Pacific States Marine...

...Fisheries Commission under a tri-state process for California, Oregon, and Washington. In the Californian fishery, Northern California landings are reportedly smaller in size than ususal. According to a local Dungeness Crab vendor there are limited offers on the market at the moment. Last year's season in California, which typically begins December 1st, landed the biggest Dungeness catch since 2013 at 22.7 million pounds statewide, up 84 percent from the previous season. The average price per pound for California Dungeness, however, was $3.19/lb ex-vessel, the lowest since 2013.

--- In the Oregon fishery, concerns of Domoic Acid delayed the opening of the fishery until January again, just like we saw in 2016. We spoke to Troy Buell from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for preliminary harvest totals in this years fishery. As of mid-last week there were 19.8 million pounds of Dungeness Crab landed with an ex-vessel value of $2.93 per pound.

This is on par with landings from last year and will be the highest harvest for the state since 2010. 2lb+ whole cooked Dungeness offers this month are around $6.75/lb in Seattle, which is about 50 cents higher per pound from pricing this time last year. We have also heard from live buyers that boats pricing is high this season in both Oregon and in Washington. Our advise to buyers is to keep an eye on this market and watch for pricing to come down if landings continue to be strong.

--- Join us next week when we take a closer look at the Argentine Shrimp market.

TradexLIVE Offer Of The Week

Our TradexLIVE offer of the week is for SINBAD Platinum Argentine Red Shrimp. We have 16,000 lbs peeled and deveined 21-25count red Shrimp available in Seattle for $5.55/lb USD. All SINBAD Platinum Brand products undergo our "Industry Best" 7-Step Quality Control Process and come with a 100% Net Weight Guarantee.