By Tove Tupper
 
February 9, 2010
 
NEAR FLORENCE, Ore. - Dungeness crab season is well underway on the West Coast.
 
Last year's eight-and-half month long season off the Oregon coast potted about 13 million pounds. This year however, that number was shattered in just the first month, setting the stage for what could be one of the best Dungeness crab seasons Oregon has ever seen.
 
"It's all about the money. It feeds my family that's all I do it for," said Eric Perez, deckhand for the Carter Jon, a Dungeness crab boat that operates near Florence.
 
The boat's first trip out to sea this season lasted just four days and netted over 70,000 pounds of crab. At $1.75 each, that equals nearly $123,000. All that money flows right into Oregon's coastal towns, where unemployment rates are skyrocketing.
 
"In a down economy, we're just really happy to see this, and we're very fortunate to have it, because we all know what the economy is like right now. Jobs are very few and far between. Guys like me, we're just thankful to have a job. I own my own job and I'm thankful to have one," said Nick Edwards, Captain of the Carter Jon.
 
In this season's first month, Oregon crabbers caught around 18.1 million pounds, equal to almost $32 million, surpassing last year's entire catch by more than five-million pounds. As of Monday February 8th, 20.4 million pounds of crab had been caught.
 
Not every crab trapped in the pots will make it back to shore. All females are thrown back into the ocean. Only males bigger than six-and-a-quarter inches stay on board. The Oregon Dungeness Crab Association says the size of individual crabs caught this season are larger than normal. Typically, crabs weight between one-and-half to two pounds. This season they're getting close to three pounds a crab.
 
Meanwhile, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention report found Dungeness crab fishing off the West Coast to be the deadliest job in the country. The report found California, Oregon and Washington had a combined annual commercial fishing fatality rate of 238 deaths per 100,000, double the national fatality rate.
 
The crab season is derby-style: Fisherman race around the clock to get the most crab in the time frame the season allows. If the weather is bad, fisherman either brave the high waves and winds or lose a chance to bring in thousands of dollars. In just a six year period, the CDC report stated that 58 commercial crabbers lost their life at sea off Oregon's coast.
 
"We'll fish right up to a storm or through a storm," Edwards said.
 
"If they were to fall over, I would do anything in my power to get them back, and I know they would do the same for me without hesitation of just doing it. Literally, they're my brothers. You take care of your family, they take care of you," said Jordan Murphy, Deckhand on the Carter Jon.
 
The season will end mid-August. In a few months, the Carter Jon will switch gears in a few months and start fishing for shrimp.