The Chef’s
Night for Dungeness Crab event on August 9 was a delightful ending to the
2012 Recreational Crabber Outreach Project in Jefferson County. Beach Watchers
from Jefferson and Clallam counties met at the Northwest Maritime Center
Courtyard in Port Townsend for expert instruction on preparing freshly caught
crab.
Local shellfish farmer and Beach Watcher
2012 curriculum developer, Michael Adams, demonstrated techniques for cleaning
and cooking. He reviewed crab biology while showing how to ‘open’ a cooked
crab. Questions about how to tell male from female were answered during the
biology lesson.
Local chef and Beach Watcher, Steve Urbanc,
provided a variety of suggestions for preparing crab, including using shells in
crab bisque. He reviewed the classics like crab dip and crab cakes and
also encouraged people to add crab to recipes they may already make, like
coleslaw, pasta salad, scalloped potato and omelets.
Recreational
Crabber Outreach Training was available to Beach Watchers in July.
Attendees had the opportunity to learn about Dungeness crab biology, harvest
methods, trap operation, preventing loss of crab pots and using natural fiber
escape cord. Training also included crab fishery management and history,
commercial and recreational harvesting, recent (2010) WDFW revisions to
crabbing policy, and efforts to improve compliance on minimum size, catch
recording and reporting. The instructors were Don Velazques from
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Michael Adams.
In July, Beach Watchers also gathered for a
Packet Party where they assembled
information packets for recreational crabbers and shared a pizza dinner
afterwards. Packets were distributed to
multiple sites in Jefferson and Clallam counties including retail licensing
locations, marinas and fairs.