The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) rejected a petition filed by conservation NGOs seeking new rules to reduce the risk of whale entanglements in Dungeness crab fishing gear, opting instead to move forward with its own ongoing rulemaking process.
“We remain fully committed to protecting whales and other marine life while supporting a sustainable, community‑based crab fishery,” the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission said in a social media post after the vote. “Over the past several years, Oregon’s crab fleet, [Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife] staff, and the Commission have already implemented a series of conservation measures and adaptive, late‑season rules to reduce entanglement risk, and that work will continue.”
Four conservation NGOs – the Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the American Cetacean Society – filed a petition 11 December 2025 calling on state regulators to take several actions intended to reduce entanglements. Among the NGOs’ demands were prohibiting conventional pot gear starting 1 April, approving pop-up gear for use in the Dungeness crab fishery, releasing public reporting on entanglements, and implementing emergency closures of the fishery when an endangered species is entangled or killed.
“This year’s horrific entanglements show that humpbacks are in a lot of danger from Oregon crab gear,” Ben Grundy, an oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a release. “If state officials don’t move to adopt whale-safe fishing gear, like pop-up buoys for Dungeness crab pots, endangered whales will continue to suffer and die preventable deaths.”
However, Oregon regulators said the petition was filed as they were working to introduce new rules to reduce entanglement risks. Just over a month after the petition was filed, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced several rule changes for the upcoming season designed to address whale entanglements. In January, ODFW announced that it would be implementing its late-season rules – which directs commercial fishers to use 20 percent fewer pots, prohibits gear in waters deeper than 40 fathoms, and requires special buoy tags on every pot – a month earlier than previously planned, kicking in 1 April instead of 1 May. ODFW said it made the change after new information showed the regulations would be even more effective if they went into effect earlier in the spring.
"While our current pot limit reduction and depth restriction has reduced the number of vertical lines in the water after 1 May, newer research shows that starting these measures in April will do even more to reduce entanglement risk," ODFW Marine Resources Program Manager Justin Ainsworth said at the time. "Whale distribution in Oregon waters varies each year, but limiting commercial Dungeness crab fishing to shallower waters in April will help reduce overlap with crab gear."
That change was praised by both Oceana and the Center for Biological Diversity, two of the NGOs behind the December petition.
During the 20 February hearing on the petition, ODFW recommended adopting the petition and incorporating it into the ongoing rulemaking process.
"From the department's perspective, our recommendation was fundamentally to stay the course on planned 2026 rulemaking," ODFW Director Debbie Colbert said at a 20 October 2025 meeting.
However, the commission ultimately voted to reject the petition in a 6-1 vote, choosing to move forward on its own efforts instead of having the petition guide the rulemaking process. ODFW noted that a multi-year effort to develop the conservation plan (CP) needed to secure an incidental take permit for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery was already underway.
"We have been working actively to pursue a CP and submitted a partial plan to NOAA Fisheries last year," Fish Division Administrator Mike Harrington said in a release. "We recently heard back from NOAA on the CP and are addressing their comments."
ODFW said in the release that it plans to submit a final plan to NOAA Fisheries for approval later in 2026.
