Crabbing or razor clam openings?

[Jake Dogfish]

Doesn't seem very cost affective to me to be running from Westport all the way to Oregon and back to Westport to deliver crab unless they're getting a really really good price for the product. Something fishy going on. 

Chuckle all you want, It's closer to Oregon from Westport than is it to Kalaloch, let alone La Push Or Cape Flattery. In fact from Westport, it's not much farther to Oregon than it is to Taholah.  The distance from Westport to La Push is about equal distance as Westport to Nehalem, Oregon, and Tillamook isn't much farther.  And from Tillamook, it's about 50 more miles to Newport.  Newport to Westport is about 150 miles or less than a day's run for most crab boats. If you pack 50,000 lbs of crab and you have a market in Westport that will pay you 50 cent a lb more than you can get in Newport, believe me, you will run your crab to Westport. That's $25,000 more for your load. And the crew likes it because they make more money and get some sleep while trading off on wheel watches. It happens a lot.

It’s no conspiracy, a lot of boats are based at Westport and they got to get some crab up here as well.  Crab is the biggest seafood industry in Washington so of course they want to open it up.
They like to have all the coast open at the same time to spread out the effort if possible.  If the Oregon and California fisheries close, many of those Crab boats will head here if it opens.

[Encore 280]

The prices are that much better in Westport than Ilwaco or any of the Oregon ports?   

[Sitka_Blacktail]

The prices are that much better in Westport than Ilwaco or any of the Oregon ports?   

Depends on markets. If a cannery up here has certain markets and they don't want to lose them because they aren't fishing up here, they will do what they have to do to get product. If you lose market share, it can be hard to get it back.  And if you lose your workforce because they go someplace else because you aren't processing, you may have trouble finding a crew to man your plant when fishing does start up here.  It's good to keep your crew working, not to mention your machinery. 

I know people who live tank crab on a trailer and haul them to California to sell because there is money in it.

[GWP]

I did a horrible thing. I checked with WDFW first, then went and got a bunch of Sand Shrimp, cleaned them, battered, deep fried and ate them. Friends tried them as well. They taste like, well, shrimp. Have done it again since but skipped the batter and used just a bit of salt. I like them!
They filter/eat differently than razors or crab, so are Ok to eat. Or so I was told by three different biologists.