Because recreational crabbers caught more than the state’s share of crab this summer, the waters off Tacoma will not reopen Saturday when other areas reopen.

Crab fishing in waters north of Vashon Island and in Hood Canal are among four that will reopen at sunrise Saturday. Marine Areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 9 (Admiralty Inlet), 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and 12 (Hood Canal) will reopen for sport crabbing seven days a week through Jan. 2.

Crab fishing remains open seven days a week through Jan. 2 in Marine Areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu) and 13 (south Puget Sound), where the fishery has continued uninterrupted since June 18, said a news release from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But the waters off Tacoma – from the northern tip of Vashon Island to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge – will remain closed.

This summer, crabbers caught an estimated 44,000 pounds of crab, topping the state’s allocation of 40,000 pounds, said Rich Childers, shellfish policy coordinator for the department.

“We’d like to reopen the area, but we just can’t,” he said.

Also remaining closed are Marine Areas 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1 and 8-2 (east of Whidbey Island).

The decision to keep those areas closed was based on catch record cards returned by anglers and a phone survey conducted by the department. This is the second year that crab fishermen were required to file summer crab catch reports after Labor Day. Reports for the fall/winter season must be filed Jan. 2-15.

The two-stage reporting system is designed to give fishery managers more accurate information about the recreational crab catch during the course of the season, the release said.

Of the more than 210,000 crabbers licensed to fish for crab in Puget Sound, 70,378 complied with the September reporting requirement, including 43,919 who filed their catch reports on the reporting Web site. In calculating the catch to date, department staff considered the direct reports from crabbers as well as phone surveys with 6,039 people who did not submit catch reports by the Sept. 15 deadline, the release said.

“Last year, what we got was about 66,000. So we did a bit better this year. But we were hoping for a lot more,” Childers said.

The rate of returned cards went from 32 percent last year to 33 percent this year.

“That’s not very good. It’s a lot of information, don’t get me wrong. The challenge is we’re not getting the people who don’t get any crab or only one or two and don’t feel it’s worth it to file a report,” Childers said.

If the department relied solely on the returned cards, the catch estimate would be much higher, meaning more closures.

“We do the phone survey of people who don’t report. We hear a lot that people didn’t go crabbing or didn’t catch anything, and that brings the numbers down,” Childers said.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

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