MEDFORD, Ore. — Live Dungeness crab are back on the menu for sport and commercial fishermen along Oregon’s South Coast after tests show domoic acid levels are back below health thresholds, but crab lovers are still left wondering whether this marks the end of an unhealthy offshore cycle or just another public-health blip.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture on Thursday restored sport crabbing south of Cape Blanco after two consecutive weekly samples showed domoic acid levels of Dungeness sampled out of Port Orford at well below health thresholds, the last domoic acid hold-over for Oregon crabs this year. The designation also allows South Coast commercial crabbers to sell their Dungeness live instead of eviscerated to remove crab guts or “butter” that contains the highest concentrations of domoic acid as required since the late-opening season began Feb. 1.
The last time a domoic-acid closure on the South Coast last fall, it reopened Jan. 31 but lasted just two weeks before levels spiked in Dungeness off Port Orford, records show.
But the algae that produces the toxins has a pattern on the West Coast of hanging around for three to fives years before severely dissipating, shifts linked largely to changing weather patterns, health experts say.
The current trend of domoic acid outbreaks began in August of 2014, just short of five years ago.
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“That’s when it came and didn’t leave,” said Judy Dowell, who monitors shellfish at the ODA’s food-safety program in Salem.
“Our hope is that it follows the previous patterns, and this is the year that the majority of it goes away,” Dowell said. “It should significantly diminish and be significantly less of a problem, certainly for the crabbing industry and recreational crabbers.”
However, domoic levels remain high in razor clams off Port Orford. Razor clams are a key Dungeness diet and a source for domoic spikes in crabs.
The next round of Dungeness tests off Oregon will be conducted during the week of April 8, with the results either continuing the trend toward the outbreak waning or a repeat of the last open-and-shut saga.
“It’s up to Mother Nature, of course, but we might be on a path here to being able to harvest without evisceration, for a while anyway,” said Hugh Link, executive director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.
During the recent closure, the commercial industry was allowed to sell eviscerated crab because that’s where the domoic acid builds up. No closure allows for the sale of live crab at higher profits for crabbers, Link said.
That’s why health officials recommend always eviscerating all crab before cooking. When whole crab are cooked in liquid, domoic acid may leach into the liquid.
Domoic acid can cause minor to severe illness and even death in humans. Severe poisoning can result in dizziness, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. More severe cases can result in memory loss and death.
Already this year’s Oregon fleet of more than 400 crab boats have landed 17 million pounds of Dungeness generating $65 million to Oregon fishermen, making it by far Oregon’s most lucrative ocean fishery, according to the commission.
Of that, South Coast crabbers have landed 1.5 million pounds of Dungeness for about $5.5 million since their eviscerated season opened Feb. 1, commission statistics show.
