Southeast Dungeness crab harvest below average

Dungeness crab. (NOAA photo)
Most areas in Southeast closed to commercial fall fishing for Dungeness crab on Nov. 30.
The State has crunched the numbers and the season was below average in both harvest and participation.
First, the numbers. The harvest was 547,000 pounds. That’s less than the five-year average of 715,000 pounds. This fall’s harvest is 17 percent of the year’s total harvest which is about 5 percent less than what it’s been recently.
The participation was a