Dungeness Crab Clusters - Where to Find and How to Cook | Lummi Island Wild (2024)

FAQs

Where is the best place to find Dungeness crab? ›

Habitat. Dungeness crab are a west coast species ranging from the Aleutian Islands to southern California. They thrive in colder water, making the ocean off British Columbia a prime fishing area, where they live in bays, inlets and estuaries and on the open coast.

Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister, or dungies if you're on the dock, live in nearshore waters from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska south to Point Conception, north of Santa Barbara, California. Occasionally, they are even found as far south as Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Although Dungeness crabs are annual spawners throughout most of their range, females produce eggs biennially in Southeast Alaska. Mating between a hard-shelled male and a soft-shelled female occurs in late summer and sperm are stored internally in the female's 'spermathecae'.

Time of day

Slack water (the time around high or low tide) is the best time to crab. During slack water, crabs are generally walking around and foraging since they are not getting pushed around by tidal exchange.

In short, the season typically kicks off around November to early December. Fisherman's Wharf is usually ablaze with fresh Dungeness crabs, available for Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas, which has become an important emotional attachment to many San Francisco residents.

Dungeness crab can be found as deep as 300′. Generally we can fish them from 10′ to 100′. Make sure you have enough trap line for the tide swing. The outgoing tide sometimes has more current, which pulls your gear deeper.

Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska produce most of the commercial Dungeness catch. There are usually two different seasons in each state, there is an inshore or bay season which produces smaller crabs and the coastal fishery which produces the larger "Ocean Run” crabs.

Marine animals don't breathe air, but they still need oxygen, which they absorb from the water. If sufficient oxygen is missing from the water column, the animals may perish. In addition, blooms of harmful algae have led to the closure of entire Dungeness crab fisheries on the West Coast in past years.

I prefer to steam my crabs instead of boiling them, as I feel the meat comes out more tender and flavorful this way and is not so waterlogged from the cooking water. I have a huge cooking pot with a steamer rack that I bought for $39 at the Giant Value store on Mission Street in San Francisco.

Where does Costco get their Dungeness crab? ›

COSTCO's Fully Cooked Dungeness Crab

Northwest Fish Dungeness Crab is harvested from the icy waters of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. Each crab is cooked within hours of being caught to lock in the natural flavors. The meat has a distinctive, sweet flavor and is a fan favorite of the seafood enthusiast.”

When it comes to taste, both snow crab legs and Dungeness crab are delicious, but they have some differences. Snow crab legs have a sweet and delicate flavor, while Dungeness crab has a slightly sweet and nutty taste. Nutritionally, both crabs are low in fat and calories, making them a healthy seafood option.

With a catch area ranging from the Central Coast of California, beginning just south of San Francisco, all the way up the coast, covering nearly all of the coastal waters of Oregon and Washington state, as well as throughout the Puget Sound, the Coastal waters of Canada and even in Southeast Alaska.

Dungeness crab are relatively short lived crustaceans with a maximum life expectancy of about 10 years. Most commercially caught Dungeness are 4 years old when they are between 6 ¼ and 7 inches wide across their carapace.

Dungeness crabs are naturally found in the Pacific Ocean and span three countries: Canada, the United States, and Mexico. We can most commonly find Dungeness crab populations between the Aleutian Islands in Alaska and Santa Barbara, California, but we occasionally see them as far south as Baja California Sur in Mexico.

Dungeness crab is mainly harvested in the Pacific Northwest by locally based boats from California to Washington. Local fishermen and women work hard to deliver the freshest crab to their communities.

The Port of Newport hosts the largest commercial fishing fleet on the Oregon Coast, and many of our local fishers have been harvesting record numbers of crab for decades. Not only is commercially harvested crab processed and shipped all over the world, but it's also readily available everywhere in Newport.