Washington State Ferries has a warning for crabbers

Crab potting in the Puget Sound kicked off July 1 and lasts until September 2. Washington State Ferries (WSF) is warning people to keep their crab pots out of the ferry lanes, please.

Spokesperson Ian Sterling told KIRO Newsradio the Suquamish, which services the Mukilteo/Clinton route, was damaged by a pot last month and just got back in service. He said to put a ferry into dry dock is at least six figures, which doesn’t include the repair cost.

“So it’s something we keep an eye on every year at ferries,” Sterling said. “I really want to get the word out, especially the folks you know, on the Fourth of July that might be going out for the first time crabbing, you don’t want to lose your gear, it’s expensive.”

It can become even more expensive if a crab pot gets wrapped around a prop shaft of a state ferry. It can then work its way into the seals between the dry and wet parts of the boat and cause mechanical damage.

“The bigger the boat, the bigger the problem, right? You’re talking six figures at least to get one into drydock,” Sterling said. “And then a lot of work to put that back in the water and with the fleet size that we have now, which is smaller than in years past. We really can’t afford to have boats go out, especially for things that were preventable.”

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WSF is asking folks, especially new crabbers, not to drop their pots in front of the ferry dock or anywhere near the ferry routes. If your line goes missing, it’s best to call the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to report. The agency said you won’t be fined for reporting a missing line.

“Like I say the fine is you lose your crab gear,” Sterling said. “And that’s pretty expensive stuff. If you put it in the way of a state ferry and we don’t see it. So people don’t want to do this intentionally, obviously.”

“But it’s just an educational piece here that if you put your crab pot right in front of the ferry dock, or where the ferries, or other boats for that matter, are going back and forth all day, it puts your gear at risk and it puts those vessels at risk and can really inconvenience tens of thousands of ferry passengers and cost tens of thousands of dollars,” he continued.

WSF is expecting 100,000 riders a day for the Fourth of July holiday and as it stands, Sterling said the agency might see more than 700,000 riders after all is said and done.

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