June 09, 2004
Wednesday

In response to your letter: where are the crab?", I have to say that the commercial fishers have paid their dues to participate in the crab fishery. the license costs depend on the number of pots to be fished. They are 75,150, and 225 pot licenses. Then there are the costs of the pots, lines, buoys, bait jars and bait hooks. Depending on the license used for the fishery, These items cost quite a bit of money.

There is no way we can stop people from out of state from fishing in our waters and the Dungeness crab cannot be fished in deep waters as they dwell in the shallows. Once the fishery starts, there is money being spent in local fishing towns on fuel, food, and fishing supplies and maybe if there are unexpected breakdowns.

I am a former commercial fisherman and I participate in the subsistence halibut fishery and as subsistence fishers, we cannot fish near town and we have to travel some distance to be able to fish when the sport and charter fishers can fish right in front of town. We have to also be one nautical mile offshore from Revillagigedo and Gravina Islands which poses some problems for fishing grounds and can be dangerous to some out there trying to catch halibut in open skiffs or small boats.

So, all I can say is this, get heavier commercial type crab pots that you can haul by hand or get a pot puller. There is no way we can stop people from making a living off the water. A lot of the crab boats that pass through here are heading up toward the Yakutat area to fish also.

Kevin Kristovich
Ketchikan, AK - USA

Related Viewpoint:

Where are all the crab? by M.L. Dahl - Ketchikan

 

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