Sequim – Attention local crabbers. The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Natural Resources Department is conducting Dungeness crab tagging and tracking research in our local bays, starting this month, and they’re asking for the public’s help in gathering crucial data about the species.
Building on the Tribe’s ongoing monthly crab research surveys in the Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, Jamestown aims to tag and release 500 male Dungeness crabs, focusing on the marine waters surrounding Dungeness, Discovery, and Sequim Bays.
Dungeness crabs are constantly on the move on our sandy sea floor. Tracking their movement gives co-managers a clearer picture of how crab populations use local habitats.
Beginning this month, Jamestown biologists will carefully sample each captured crab from their monthly survey, evaluating its size, sex and shell condition, and affix a bright orange “floy tag” (thin, wire-like marker) before returning it to the water. Tagging doesn’t harm the crab, and it doesn’t affect the quality of the meat.
If you catch a crab with one of these floy tags, they ask that you please call the phone number printed on the marker and report the tag number, the date and approximate time the crab was caught, the location (GPS coordinates if possible, or nearest geographic reference), and even the approximate depth the crab was caught, if you know it.
Each tag reported by a crab fisher adds a crucial data point that will help ensure long-term population sustainability.