Washington State Dungeness Crab FishVue Lime Project

The U.S. Dungeness crab fishery is a major commercial fishery on the Pacific West Coast. It is part of a multibillion-dollar industry that employs hundreds of fishing boats. In Washington State there are 228 coastal commercial Dungeness crab license holders, Archipelago has been involved since 2019 supporting the crab fishery with Electronic Monitoring solutions to modernize the management of the coastal fishery. 

Archipelago, partnered with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), wdfw.wa.gov/ to test the efficacy of the EM system in improving the accuracy and consistency of data collection, leading to the modernization of the management of the coastal WA Commercial Dungeness crab fishery.  Key problems to address during the pilots were: 

• Knowing the fishing locations and vessels tracks 
• Determining the number of crab traps deployed under the mandatory trap limit 
• Could EM be used as a cost-effective substitute for at-sea observers? 
• Would data collection facilitate strategies to reduce interaction with endangered mammals and lead to better zone closure management?

During the WDFW pilot projects in 2022 on ten vessels, the FishVue LIME system proved its mettle by accurately recording fishing locations and tracking the number of pots fished under mandatory trap limits. WDFW sees EM as a valuable tool that will improve accuracy and timely receipt of fishing location data that is needed to effectively manage quotas, to enforce closed area boundaries and to help assess entanglement risk with marine mammals. These key achievements were instrumental in WDFW’s decision to consider the projects successful. In the summer of 2023, WDFW successfully implemented EM regulations for the coastal WA Commercial Dungeness crab fishery.

Implementing Electronic Monitoring for the entire Washington Dungeness Crab Fleet has reduced costs and improved the management of the fishery. Archipelago has supported WDFW with initial pilot projects that then moved into full commercial implementation, covering ~200 vessels. Today the fisheries are realizing the benefits of: 

• Eliminates the need and cost of At Sea Observers since all data is collected electronically 
• Provides real-time tracking of vessel location and trap deployment   
  • Can also show in real time any fishing regions that are closed 
• Logs all traps deployed and retrieved ensuring they stay within the trap limit regulations 
  • This also reduces gear loss / theft saving big money annually