The Oregon crabbing industry is facing an imminent threat. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is in receipt of a petition demanding drastic changes to commercial crabbing rules that have the very real potential to devastate the industry.
Below is the testimony I submitted to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission for their meeting on Febraury 20, 2026. There is still time to register to testify at the 2/20 meeting, but you must register before 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18 (48 hours before the meeting begins). The meeting will be in person in Springfield, OR; the opportunity to attend and testify remotely is available.
Go to the ODFW website for more information and to register to give testimony: https://myodfw.com/art…/commission-agenda-february-20-2026 and click on ‘Download Feb. 20, 2026 draft agenda.’
RE: Opposition to Petition to Revise Commercial Dungeness Crab Fishery Rules (OAR Chapter 635, Division 5)
Dear Chair Wahl and Esteemed Commissioners:
On behalf of Tillamook County’s approximately 27,000 residents, I urgently request that you reject the December 11, 2025, petition seeking drastic changes to Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery regulations. This petition threatens to eliminate a fishing industry that has sustained Tillamook County communities for generations and would devastate the specialized small-boat fleet operating from the Port of Garibaldi—a fleet internationally recognized for producing the highest-quality Dungeness crab in the world.
Port of Garibaldi: World-Class Quality from Small-Boat Operations
The Port of Garibaldi operates approximately 20 local boats plus 5-6 out-of-town boats, with up to 60 commercial vessels during seasonal peaks. This is a small-boat fleet—vessels specifically designed for the shallow Tillamook Bay bar that allows quick 1 to 2-day trips rather than week-long voyages required by larger vessels operating from deeper ports.
What makes Garibaldi’s fleet extraordinary is not its size, but its quality. The Port of Garibaldi has the lowest Dungeness crab dead loss of any port anywhere—a distinction that has brought experts from around the world to study Garibaldi’s crab handling techniques. Our fleet uses modern refrigeration systems, proper water circulation, and aquarium-style crab holding. The result is individually handled, premium-quality seafood that commands premium prices and has earned Garibaldi an international reputation for excellence.
This is not industrial fishing. This is artisanal fishing practiced at the highest level. Our small boats make day trips, deliver fresh products, and maintain quality standards that larger operations cannot match. This business model depends on operational flexibility, responsive management to market conditions, and the ability to fish during optimal weather and crab quality periods.
The petition’s mandates would eliminate this model entirely. You cannot operate a small boat day-trip fishery with a 40% gear reduction during the only months when weather and crab quality allow safe operations. You cannot maintain world-class quality standards when arbitrary closure threats prevent business planning and investment.
Tillamook County’s Fishing Heritage and Economic Reality
Commercial fishing contributes over $500 million in personal income to Oregon annually, with Tillamook County representing a significant portion of that economic activity. These are not numbers that can be replaced through tourism or other sectors, this is foundational economic infrastructure.
In Tillamook County the Dungeness crab fishery is the most valuable species economically, generating $3.08 million in ex-vessel value during the successful 2017-2018 season. This is not abstract economic data—this represents mortgage payments, groceries, school supplies, and family stability for hundreds of Tillamook County families.
Economic Devastation for Tillamook County Communities
The communities of Garibaldi (population 815), Bay City, Rockaway Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, and Pacific City depend heavily on commercial fishing. These are not large cities with diverse economies—these are small coastal towns where fishing families, processors, marine suppliers, and related businesses form an interconnected economic web.
When processors close, the impacts cascade throughout Tillamook County:
• Fishing families lose not just income but also markets for their catch—even if they could afford to continue fishing, there would be nowhere to sell their crab
• Processor employees lose family-wage jobs in communities with few alternative employment options
• Marine suppliers, fuel docks, repair shops, and gear suppliers lose their customer base
• Restaurants and retailers lose their signature fresh local Dungeness crab—a major tourism draw
• Property values decline as economic activity contracts
• Tax revenues decrease, reducing funding for schools, emergency services, and infrastructure
• The cultural identity of fishing communities disappears as working waterfronts become tourist amenities without authentic maritime activity
The Petition’s Unworkable Mandates Target Small-Boat Operators
While the petition claims to address whale entanglement risk, its actual effect would be to eliminate small-boat fishing operations like those in Tillamook County:
Mandatory Pop-Up Gear by 2028: Pop-up (ropeless) gear systems cost $50,000 to $200,000+ per vessel. Garibaldi’s small boat fleet includes vessels often valued at less than these retrofit costs. Banks will not finance unproven technology tested for only one year. Family operators lack capital reserves for self-financing. The result is not adaptation—it is elimination of family-scale operations and consolidation to wealthy corporate operators.
Technology Failure: Pop-up gear has not been proven reliable in Oregon’s specific ocean conditions, particularly in the challenging shallow-water, dynamic conditions of Tillamook Bay. Gear retrieval failures would be catastrophic for small operators working on thin margins. Lost gear means lost catch, lost income, and potentially lost vessels for families who cannot absorb major financial losses. The petition provides no insurance mechanism, no compensation for equipment failure, and no recourse for fishermen whose livelihoods are destroyed by mandated but unproven technology.
40% Gear Reduction During Peak Season: The petition mandates a 40% gear reduction starting April 1st. For Garibaldi’s small boat fleet, April through June represents the critical fishing window. Weather is most favorable, crab quality is highest, and market prices are premium. These small boats cannot safely operate during November-March winter conditions. A 40% gear reduction during the only viable fishing months does not reduce income by 40%; it could eliminate 60-80% or more of annual income by targeting the brief window when small-boat operations are possible.
For operations already working on thin profit margins, this income loss is not survivable. Small-boat operators cannot absorb 60-80% income reductions and continue paying vessel mortgages, equipment loans, insurance, moorage, maintenance, and family living expenses.
Arbitrary Closure Provisions: The petition includes language mandating “subjective conditions of sudden and unpredictable full season closures.” This provision alone would destroy Garibaldi’s fishing industry even if no closures ever occur. No bank will finance a vessel subject to arbitrary closure. No processor will commit to supply contracts with uncertain availability. No young person will enter a fishery that can be shut down without notice or clear criteria. Business uncertainty kills the industry before any regulatory action occurs.
Scientific Questions and the Success of Current Management
Humpback whale populations along the Oregon coast have increased by over 8% annually in recent scientific studies. This population growth demonstrates that current collaborative management between ODFW and the commercial fishing industry is achieving conservation objectives while sustaining fishing communities.
The petition does not provide clear scientific evidence that:
• Endangered whale populations (specific distinct population segments) are being harmed in Oregon waters
• Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery is preventing whale population recovery
• Current best management practices voluntarily adopted by Oregon fishermen are inadequate
• The proposed restrictions would provide measurable conservation benefit beyond current management
Oregon’s commercial crabbers, including Garibaldi’s fleet, have voluntarily adopted best management practices, modified gear to minimize whale interaction risk, and worked collaboratively with ODFW for years. This approach has succeeded—whale populations are increasing. Garibaldi fishermen have demonstrated their commitment to conservation through their actions, not just rhetoric.
Implementing drastic economic restrictions based on worst-case assumptions rather than verified, Oregon-specific scientific evidence represents poor policy that causes demonstrable harm to Tillamook County families without corresponding conservation benefit.
California Groups Targeting Oregon Communities
This petition was filed by California-based environmental organizations with no stake in Tillamook County’s economy, no accountability to Garibaldi’s fishing families, and no participation in the collaborative management processes that ODFW has developed
They face no consequences. We do. This is Oregon’s fishery, communities, businesses, and families. Oregon should manage its resources based on verifiable science in partnership with Oregon stakeholders, not surrender authority to California litigation groups pursuing agendas that ignore local impacts.
The Broader Context: Bay Clams and Integrated Fisheries
Tillamook County’s fishing economy includes more than just Dungeness crab. Nearly all commercially harvested Oregon bay clams are landed in Tillamook County, generating over $2 million in recent years with a 2018 record of $710,041. The primary market for these clams is Dungeness crab bait.
Eliminate the crab fishery and you eliminate the bay clam market, destroying a second fishery and the families it supports. Similarly, Tillamook County’s black rockfish and lingcod fisheries, together account for 85-96% of nearshore harvest and achieved record revenues in 2017—depend on infrastructure, processors, and business relationships sustained by the larger crab fishery.
This is not about one species or one regulation. This is about dismantling an integrated fishing economy that has evolved over generations to support multiple fisheries, quality standards, and community relationships. You cannot selectively eliminate one component without collapsing the entire system.
Request for Action
On behalf of Tillamook County’s 27,000 residents, the fishing families of Garibaldi, Bay City, and our coastal communities, and the world-class small boat fleet that has earned international recognition for quality, I respectfully and urgently request that you:
1. REJECT this petition in its entirety. It is economically catastrophic, scientifically questionable, discriminatory against small-boat operators, and procedurally inappropriate
2. MAINTAIN ODFW’s current science-based, adaptive management approach developed through collaborative engagement with Oregon’s fishing industry
3. REQUIRE comprehensive economic impact analysis before considering any major rule changes affecting the commercial crab fishery, including specific assessment of impacts on small-boat fleets, processing facilities, and economically challenged coastal counties like Tillamook
4. REQUIRE clear, Oregon-specific scientific evidence demonstrating that current collaborative management measures are insufficient
5. ENSURE meaningful consultation with Oregon’s fishing industry, including small-boat operators, before implementing any new restrictions that would disproportionately impact artisanal, quality-focused fisheries
6. RECOGNIZE that small-boat, family-scale fishing operations represent Oregon’s fishing heritage and produce the highest-quality product. Regulations that favor large corporate operations over small family businesses undermine the character and sustainability of Oregon’s fishing industry
In conclusion, Tillamook County’s fishing industry has sustained our communities for generations. The Port of Garibaldi has achieved world-class recognition for quality and has the lowest crab dead loss of any port anywhere. Our fishermen have voluntarily adopted best practices and worked collaboratively with ODFW to achieve conservation success, and whale populations prove it.
We cannot survive the elimination of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery based on unproven assumptions, unaffordable mandates, and discrimination against small-boat operators. We have limited economic alternatives. We are asking you to protect Oregon’s fishing heritage, Oregon’s small businesses, and Oregon’s coastal economy.
I stand with Oregon’s fishing families, processors, marine businesses, and coastal communities. I urge you to reject this petition in favor of maintaining the collaborative, science-based management that has successfully balanced conservation with economic sustainability.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Faith Bell
Tillamook County Commissioner, Vice-Chair
cc:
Oregon Legislative Coastal Caucus
Oregon Coast Crab Association
Coastal Port Managers
Port of Garibaldi Commission
FishHer: Columbia Pacific CommUNITY Alliance
Tillamook Chamber of Commerce
Pacific City Nestucca Valley Chamber of Commerce