Here's when commercial Dungeness crab season opens in WA
NOAA: Dungeness crab species is dying off
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that Dungeness crab, one of Washington's most valued seafood items, is dying off.
SEATTLE - The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that the commercial Dungeness crab season will open on Jan. 15 from Klipsan Beach on the Long Beach Peninsula south to Cape Falcon, Oregon. This includes the Columbia River and Willapa Bay. The opening date for the remainder of Washington's Pacific Coast is still pending.
Dungeness crabs represent Washington's most valuable commercial fishery. The 2023-24 coastal commercial Dungeness crab season yielded state landings valued at $66.8 million, second only to the $88.2 million record set during the 2021-22 season.
The fish and wildlife departments of Washington, Oregon, and California collaborate annually to determine season openers as part of a tri-state agreement to manage the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery. Opening dates are based on test fishing results, which can be found at psmfc.org/crab.

Dungeness crabs are economically important to the West Coast. (Austin Trigg/National Marine Fisheries Service / NOAA)
WDFW fishery managers conduct crab sampling from October to January each year in Westport and Long Beach. The crabs must have a meat recovery rate of at least 23% of their total body weight before the season can open. This threshold ensures that the crabs have molted and developed a hard shell, indicating they will be in marketable condition with greater meat quantity and quality by the season opener.
"Meat recovery is closely tied to the crabs’ molting cycle," said WDFW Coastal Shellfish Manager Matthew George. "In recent years, crabs along Washington’s coast have been molting later, resulting in delayed season openings. The crab we sampled in Westport reached 23% meat recovery in mid-December, while the Long Beach crab did not meet that threshold until early January."
WDFW is investigating whether changes in molt timing are linked to broader climate trends. Improving the fishery’s climate resiliency is part of the updated Coastal Dungeness Crab Policy, approved by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in October. Other policy updates address the risk of marine life entanglement in crabbing gear, focusing on humpback and blue whales and leatherback sea turtles. WDFW is developing a conservation plan and seeking an Incidental Take Permit under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Discussions are ongoing with co-manager tribes to determine a season opening date from Klipsan Beach north to the U.S.-Canada border. Each year, WDFW collaborates with tribal co-managers to develop harvest management plans to achieve resource sharing goals. These agreements include provisions such as earlier seasons for the smaller tribal fleets and special management areas closed to state fishers.
The Quinault Indian Nation’s Dungeness crab season opened on Dec. 29. QIN’s season typically begins 45-49 days before the state’s, depending on crab abundance. Additionally, per WDFW’s harvest management agreement with the Quileute Tribe, the area north of Destruction Island does not open to state crabbers before Jan. 15.
WDFW reminds state crabbers to adhere to all current regulations, including those related to line marking, buoy registration, and electronic monitoring, and to avoid setting gear in towboat lanes.
The Source: Information in this article was taken directly from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).