WDFW and tribal co-managers continue ongoing study to explore Dungeness crab movement in Puget Sound. Anglers are asked to report if they catch a tagged crab during this summer’s fishery. Photo by WDFW.

Ongoing study explores Dungeness crab movement in Puget Sound

Summer recreational Dungeness crab fisheries in several marine areas of Puget Sound opens in early July. Read the latest by going to the WDFW news release.

Lurking in the depths of Puget Sound lies a labyrinth of seafloor pathways that Dungeness crab inhabit.

As they scurry along the sea bottom, it is difficult to track their whereabouts, but a collaborative study between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Suquamish and Jamestown tribes hopes to shed light about crab movement within Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet), Marine Area 10 (Seattle and Bremerton Area) and Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) north of Ayock Point.

In late September 2025, WDFW and the Suquamish Tribe captured, tagged and released 555 legal-size male Dungeness crab. Through June 25, 2026, 84 tagged crab have been recaptured in recreational and/or state and tribal commercial fisheries. The project spanned across six locations in Marine Area 10 from Alki Point in West Seattle north to Apple Cove Point near Kingston.

In Marine Areas 9 and 12, WDFW and the Jamestown Tribe captured, tagged and released another 330 legal-size male Dungeness crab on June 9, 2026. Through June 25, 2026, two tagged crab have been recaptured.

“This study will help us determine how crab move around in certain areas of Puget Sound,” said Katelyn Bosley, WDFW crustacean program leader. “This could even provide more insight about crab abundance and assist us in how we manage crab fishing seasons and set annual catch quotas.”

Thin green, wire-like marking devices were inserted into each Dungeness crab, and anglers are asked to report if they catch one in Puget Sound. The collaborative work between WDFW and tribal co-managers is to gain better insight on crab movement in marine areas. Photo by WDFW.

With the summer recreational Dungeness crab fishing season beginning in July, WDFW and tribal co-managers are asking anglers to keep an eye out for any tagged crab they catch.

The recreational crab fishery in Marine Areas 9 and 12 is open Thursdays through Mondays only from July 2 through Sept. 7. Marine Area 10 is open Sundays and Mondays only from July 5 through Sept. 7. Refer to this WDFW crab seasons and areas webpage for specific opening dates for other marine areas.

Each tagged crab features a thin green, wire-like marking devices measuring two inches long. Each tag — known as a floy tag — has its own individual identification number and a phone contact.

Study researchers inserted each tag into the back side of the crab above the hind legs on the lower side of the carapace and right along the “suture line.” This is an area of the exoskeleton that splits when the crab molts. Lab studies have shown a crab can still retain the tag even after going through the molting process multiple times.

Researchers measured each crab; noted for shell hardness to indicate the stage of molting; and the location of where they were caught and released. There’s no need for anglers to be concerned about consuming a tagged crab, but it must be a legal-sized hardshell male.

Crabbers who catch a tagged crab are asked to call the phone number — found on the floy tag — and leave a voicemail or provide a text message. A webpage link will be provided to submit the information, or crabbers may leave a detailed message, which will be added to the WDFW database.

Within the webpage link, crabbers can input the tag identification number; approximate location coordinates “latitude and longitude” (the webpage is GPS enabled and there’s also a map to pin the location) of where the crab was caught; catch date; shell condition (optional); and additional comments.

WDFW manages Dungeness crab in recreational and commercial fisheries under numerous distinct marked boundary lines within Puget Sound. Each marine area has its own specific catch quota, and this study could be an important link to better understand their whereabouts and movements.

WDFW and tribal co-managers conduct test fisheries regularly in Puget Sound to determine Dungeness crab abundance and help set winter and summer fishing seasons.

This isn’t the first time a study on Dungeness crab movement has occurred in the Puget Sound region.

WDFW conducted a crab tagging study along the western side of Hood Canal, around Port Townsend and Discovery Bay in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca from 2002 to 2007. During that study period, fishery managers released 7,137 tagged crab and retrieved 567 in crab fisheries.

WDFW staff tag a legal-size male Dungeness crab as part of an onging study on learning Dungeness crab movement in Puget Sound. Photo by WDFW.

“Since that time, we’ve explored repeating that study in other places of Puget Sound where there are pressing management questions,” Bosley said. “We have low or poor crab populations within Marine Areas 10, 11, and 13, and are hopeful studies like this can lead to creating more viable sustainable fisheries in Puget Sound.”

WDFW conducted a pilot run where it released 100 tagged legal-size male Dungeness crab in Port Townsend Bay located in Marine Area 9 on June 12, 2025. Crabbers are asked to report if they catch a tagged crab. Through June 25, 2026, crabbers have recaptured 10 tagged crab.

In April 2025, the Swinomish Tribe conducted a similar crab tagging study in Marine Area 8–1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, and Skagit Bay) where 500 crab were tagged with a blue fly tag and released in Similk Bay, a body of water adjacent to the Swinomish Reservation and north of the larger Skagit Bay.

Since then, the tribe has released an additional 200 tagged crab in Similk Bay in April 2026, and 300 tagged crab in the southern end of Saratoga Passage and 41 tagged crab in northern Skagit Bay in May 2026.

Each tag has its own individual identification number and a phone contact for the Swinomish research team. Anglers can report — by calling or text message — the tag number and where the crab was caught.
“In the 2025 summer crab fisheries, recreational anglers reported several of the blue colored tags in that area,” Bosley said.

In May 2025, a tribal test fishery caught another tagged legal-sized male crab in Skagit Bay, south of where it was originally released. To read about the Swinomish Tribe’s tagging study, refer to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission webpage.

To get a better understanding of the Dungeness crab population, WDFW also held a collaborative tagging/shell condition workshop in Port Townsend this past June. Attendees included Lummi, Suquamish, Jamestown, Port Gamble, Skokomish, Puyallup, and Swinomish tribal representatives, WDFW coastal shellfish managers, and coordinators from the Pacific Northwest Crab Research Group.

More information about crab management is available on WDFW’s website.