Evisceration and Embargoes: West Coast Dungeness Crab Industry Confronts Confusion
While northern California crabbers started pulling gear this morning, southern Oregon crabbers received notice Thursday they will have to wait until Feb. 1, with some of the area opening under an evisceration order due to elevated levels of domoic acid. But that wasn't the surprise.
Both Washington and Oregon are mandating any California crab also be eviscerated or may be embargoed due to one crab near Trinidad showing a test level at 30 ppm of domoic acid.
There is a dispute between the West Coast states on how to interpret FDA rules about safe limits of domoic acid, and as a result, barriers to interstate shipment of crab are rapidly cropping up. This is bad for the industry on two fronts. First, disrupting transport ...
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