Fishery Notice

The final round of crab area designations for April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2029 is complete.  

License Numbers and the area of final selection are listed below:

AREA A: FR3, FR32, FR7, FR9, R105, R106, R107, R120, R122, R140, R141, R142, R146, R149, R166, R204, R218, R245, R247, R252, R258, R267, R27, R276, R287, R294, R300, R324, R34, R341, R352, R372, R387, R388, R413, R414, R432, R439, R442, R48, R488, R49, R499, R503, R508, R69, R87

AREA B: FR15, FR16, FR18, FR30, R101, R150, R16, R212, R25, R319, R363, R364, R400, R441, R450, R455, R458, R489, R92, R98

AREA E_QUATSINO: FR2, R255, R335

AREA E_SOOKE: FR10, R173, R2, R221, R261, R3, R38, R44, R449

AREA E_TOFINO: FR1, FR33, FR36, FR37, FR38, R129, R137, R159, R174, R178, R259, R289, R293, R297, R313, R33, R365, R411, R42, R484, R5, R504, R58, R62, R74, R93

AREA G: FR11, FR20, FR21, FR24, FR29, FR5, R110, R201, R303, R394, R416, R446, R70, R76, R77, R99

AREA H: FR13, FR17, FR19, FR25, FR27, FR28, FR31, FR34, FR6, R100, R104, R12, R127, R13, R14, R147, R15, R152, R161, R172, R179, R18, R180, R184, R191, R195, R208, R210, R229, R250, R263, R288, R302, R344, R356, R357, R36, R377, R382, R39, R392, R403, R419, R440, R448, R47, R498, R501, R507, R53, R60, R65, R71, R75, R86, R88

AREA I: FR12, FR14, FR22, FR23, FR26, FR35, FR39, FR8, R138, R144, R186, R200, R217, R241, R251, R253, R254, R271, R29, R345, R35, R386, R80

AREA J: R1, R115, R136, R157, R199, R222, R349, R354, R358, R374, R378, R383, R395, R396, R427, R466, R478, R506, R509, R90

All crab area re-selections are final after September 24, 2025, with the following exceptions:

Vessels that are in the process of being sold. Those vessels in the process of sale may apply to change their area if the vessel is sold, the sale and transfer of ownership is registered with the Pacific Fishery Licence Unit between September 24, 2025, and November 14, 2025. Additionally, a written application to change areas must be submitted to the Regional Fishery Manager, Karen Martz, no later than November 28, 2025. These requests to change areas will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The number of licences designated to each area are as follows:

Area A
2023-2026: 43 licences
2026-2029: 47 licences

Area B
2023-2026: 21 licences
2026-2029: 20 licences

Area E Quatsino
2023-2026: 1 licence
2026-2029: 3 licences

Area E Sooke
2023-2026: 9 licences
2026-2029: 9 licences

Area E Tofino
2023-2026: 21 licences
2026-2029: 22 licences

Area G
2023-2026: 16 licences
2026-2029: 16 licences

Area H
2023-2026: 58 licences
2026-2029: 56 licences

Area I
2023-2026: 24 licences
2026-2029: 23 licences

Area J
2023-2026: 23 licences
2026-2029: 20 licences

The associated trap limits in each area are as follows:

Area A
31 licences: 593 traps per licence <13m
4 licences: 790 traps per licence 13-14m
4 licences: 988 traps per licence 14-15.8m
8 licences: 1186 traps per licence >15.8
47 licences total

Area B
20 licences: 380 traps per licence
Seasonal areas: 190 traps per licence

Area E Quatsino (Sub-area 27-7 to 27-11)
3 licences: 200 traps per licence
Jan 1 to Jun 30; Nov 16 to Dec 31: 93 traps per licence
July 1 to Nov 15: 25 traps per licence
	

Area E Sooke 
9 licences: 311 traps per licence
Subareas 20-6 and 20-7: 46 traps per licence

Area E Tofino 
22 licences: 305 traps per licence
Outside Trap Limit: N/A
Amphitrite Hole Trap Limit: 116 traps per licence
Inside (Area 24) Trap Limit: 40 traps per licence
Note that these totals may change based on the proportion of access fished by the five Nations within the Community Based Economic Fishery following the 2023/24 Five Nations Multi-species Fishery Management Plan; it may further change depending on how many commercial vessels select the Area E - Tofino 'outside-only' option.

Area G
16 licences: 350 traps per licence

Area H
56 licences: 230 traps per licence

Area I
23 licences: 200 traps per licence 
June 15 to July 5: 100 traps per licence

Area J
20 licences: 180 traps per licence

These trap limits are preliminary and could change.  The final trap limit numbers will be in each vessel's Conditions of Licence when the licence is issued.

To avoid delays, commercial licence holders should ensure their email and mailing address information within their online licensing profile is up to date.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Karen Martz at DFO.PACFMCrab-CrabeGPPAC.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Fisheries & Oceans Operations Center - FN1058
Sent October 6, 2025 at 1406

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Printed from the Pacific Region web site on April 18, 2026 at 0212