It’s A Great Time To Be A Crabber in B.C., Says Area A Executive In Exclusive Interview

Megan Eadie of Area A spoke with us about the state of the crab fisheries.

Did you know that it takes about four years for a male crab to reach the legal size for harvesting? All Dungeness crab must measure 165mm “point to point” to be of legal size. This allows every male crab to have at least one to two years of sexual maturity before being harvested. All females and undersized crab are returned to the water to help continue to grow the population.
Did you know that it takes about four years for a male crab to reach the legal size for harvesting? All Dungeness crab must measure 165mm “point to point” to be of legal size. This allows every male crab to have at least one to two years of sexual maturity before being harvested. All females and undersized crab are returned to the water to help continue to grow the population. Source: weheartbccrab on Instagram. Photo Credit: @_chelseyellis_

We hear a lot about the hard times many folks in fisheries are going through these days. The crab business, however, is booming.

West Coast Now spoke recently with Megan Eadie, the executive director of Area A Crab Association, to get her take on why the crab industry is so successful and what she loves about the fishery.

“It’s a species that you can get fresh. You can eat it right away. You can know who your harvester is. That’s my favourite part about it.”

Megan Eadie, the executive director of Area A Crab Association

Area A represents the zone around Haida Gwaii and Hecate Strait. “It’s the largest crab area by landings in B.C., so it often represents more than 50% of all crab landed in the province,” said Eadie.

The last episode of ‘Your Nations Table’ presents Dungeness crab as the main feature. Learn about the sustainable harvesting and risks of crab fishing, and discover the versatility of Dungeness crab as Chef Rob and Chef Dai Fukasaku showcase various preparation methods. Source: @weheartbccrab on Instagram. Photo Credit: @chelseyellis

“So here we fish for Dungeness crab, which is quite different than the crab fished on the east coast of Canada, snow crab. Our B.C. crab fishery is incredibly sustainable. And you can go down to the dock in a lot of places to meet your harvester and get fresh crab from them,” she said.

“It’s a species that you can get fresh. You can eat it right away. You can know who your harvester is. That’s my favourite part about it,” Eadie said.

The Area A Crab Association’s commitment to sustainability explains why “a lot of fishermen support MPAs.” But their support for marine protected areas and marine conservation is conditional. “They want it done in a way that is accurate to science . . . so that we are not just arbitrarily putting in marine protected areas to say something is protected,” Eadie told West Coast Now.

“We would like to see more science done on crab because, as harvesters, we see that there are plenty of them, but DFO doesn’t do science on crab larval studies or anything like that.”

Meagan Eadie

Area A is responsible for the soft shell charter for the fishery, meaning “we’re deciding when to open and close the fishery based on the shell condition of the crab to ensure that we’re not harvesting when crabs are particularly vulnerable.”

“I am hopeful for the future of the crab fishery in particular,” she said. “I would love to see more support for our harvesters specifically, but financially they’re doing quite well, and our fishery seems to be doing quite well in general where crab populations and crab landings are still quite high.” 

In relation to support, Eadie said, “We would like to see more science done on crab because, as harvesters, we see that there are plenty of them, but DFO doesn’t do science on crab larval studies or anything like that.”

Meagan Eadie, executive director of the Area A Crab Association, discusses the B.C. Dungeness crab fishery with West Coast Now.

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    1. DFO fails to do larval studies on anything, and hide the studies on the hellish creatures from which they themselves are spawned. Their sole mandate is to provide opportunities for large commercial processors to gain profit. Watch out. DFO is your enemy. If they see you as hard-working, happy, and free; then you will soon be at the centre of their personal dart-board.

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