Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishing community came out in force Friday against proposed rule changes aimed at protecting humpback whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear.
The rules, proposed in a petition to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission that ultimately failed, were drafted by conservation groups after a high-profile entanglement on the Oregon coast in November.
The seven-member commission, which makes recommendations to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, denied the petition after an eight-hour meeting Friday in Springfield that was packed by members of the crabbing community.
Roughly 50 crab fishermen testified at the meeting, many in matching blue hats. The crowd of crabbers voiced strong opposition to the petition, calling the proposed rules costly and a threat to their livelihood and invoking the fight between environmentalists and loggers in the 1990s.
“We view this petition as our spotted owl,” Gary Ripka, president of the Oregon Coast Crab Association, said at the public meeting.
Ripka, who received two standing ovations from supporters during his testimony, took issue with out-of-state organizations directing regulations that affect the Oregon coast industry. Oregon crab fishermen have worked successfully with state and federal agencies for years, he said, and would like to continue that collaboration.
“If you stand with us today and if you reject this petition, trust the collaborative process that we managed together for generations, we will have your back,” Ripka said. “I’m asking you to stand with Oregon, stand with our communities from Astoria to Brookings.”
The petition, bought by The Center for Biological Diversity, Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the American Cetacean Society, proposed rules that would require crabbers to use more expensive pop-up gear in some cases and would close some areas to conventional fishing gear.
Accepting the petition would not have meant adopting the rules, but would have spurred ODFW to open its rulemaking process — a process that the agency has already begun.
Debbie Colbert, director of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department, said that accepting the petition could delay creating and implementing new rules by derailing the agency’s existing plans.
“You are being petitioned to do rulemaking and we were already doing rulemaking,” said Colbert, who sat beside commissioners in the meeting. “From the department’s perspective, our recommendation fundamentally is that we stay the course.”
However, Justin Ainsworth, marine resources program manager for ODFW, said he supported adopting the petition, presenting data that showed an uptick in humpback and fin whale entanglements due to Dungeness crab fishing gear. Between 2024 and 2025, there were eight whale entanglements off the Oregon coast, much higher than in previous years, Ainsworth said. The majority of humpback whales affected are threatened or endangered species.
Jared Margolis, senior attorney for The Center for Biological Diversity, told the commission that the proposed regulations are intended to minimize impacts to the fishing community, and would help Oregon comply with the Endangered Species Act.
“The recent whale entanglements in Oregon from Dungeness crab fishing gear really highlight the urgent need for improved regulations,” Margolis said. “These are actions that have been looked at in California, that have been proven to work.”
But person after person representing the fishing industry stood up to testify that the conservation groups’ petition would not work for them. Most spoke about potential economic hardships, and a few invoked the spotted owl fight, which roiled Oregon timber towns for years.
“Dungeness crab fishing in Oregon is an economic lifeline for these families,” Cari Brandberg, treasurer of the Newport Fishermen’s Wives, told the commission. “This petition does not consider the wellbeing of my family and my coastal community.”
“Passing this pretty much puts me out of business, puts us all out of a job,” crab fisherman Georgia Haight said.
Rob Seitz, a crab fisherman from Astoria who also owns the South Bay Wild Fish House restaurant, pleaded with the commission to include the crabbing community in its rulemaking process. “I would just ask that we could continue this history we have of working together for conservation wins and reject this petition from these out of state organizations,” he said.
Joining the opposition to the petition were local elected officials, including state Rep. Court Boice, R-Gold Beach, as well as former ODFW Commission member Laura Anderson.
After hearing hours of passionate testimony, the commission voted 6-1 to deny the petition and urge ODFW to continue its existing efforts.
Commission Vice Chair Becky Hatfield-Hyde said while the high-profile stranding in November sparked public outcry, the emotional response shouldn’t drive the rulemaking process over concerns of the fishing community.
“I think that there’s an urgency to take care the best we can to mitigate something like that happening,” Hatfield-Hyde said of the stranding. “But that passionate urgency might overlook the actual reality of step-by-step process to get to a better place and get there with community.”
