Examiner The Whidbey
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Thursday, July 9, 2015
VOL. 20, NO. 48
Bid awarded for Madrona Way Project By Megan Hansen Co-Editor
Ron Newberry photo
Dave Anderson of Coupeville flips over a Dungeness crab to determine its sex on the opening day of recreational crab fishing on Puget Sound July 2. Female Dungess crabs, which have a wider abdomen, must be released. The crabbing season goes through Sept. 7.
GOING DEEP FOR DUNGENESS
Recreational crabbers share tips as season begins By Ron Newberry Staff Reporter
Twelve hours after dropping a pair of crab pots into Holmes Harbor, Dave Anderson is back on the water approaching a red-andwhite buoy, anxious to see what’s been crawling along the sea bottom and into the traps he’s set. A hearty pull on a rope reveals heavy resistance, which is a good sign and draws a smile from Anderson. Hand over hand, the rope is retrieved on to the boat, more than 100 feet in all. When the first crab pot reaches the surface, a cage full of 13 crazy-legged crustaceans are unveiled. All are big and feisty and not pleased by the sight of blue sky or Anderson, for that matter. It was quite a start to the 2015 Dungeness crab season for Anderson, an Admiral’s Cove resident, on the first day of recreational crabbing July 2. He and his wife drop pots in the harbor regularly. “It really is a kick,” said Anderson, who retired to Whidbey Island from Porterville,
Calif., three years ago. “Especially when you’re bringing up pots like this.” Crabbing in Puget Sound is one of Washington’s most popular recreational fisheries with sport fishers catching more than 1 million pounds of Dungeness crab each year from July to September. All waters around Whidbey Island as well as most of Puget Sound are open to crabbing. The season continues through Sept. 7. Not only do many crabbers consider the Dungeness catch a delicacy, another appeal is that success rates are higher than most other fisheries, including salmon fishing. “For catching crab, nearly any bait works, some better than others,” said John Hudson, one of North Whidbey’s resident experts on crabbing. “This is one of the highest-probability-of-success sportfishing endeavors. “You’d have to be pretty hard-pressed not to have success.” Hudson tries to get out on his boat several times a week to drop his crab pots between Strawberry Point and Polnell Point outside Oak Harbor and learn a little more about
the recreational crab fishery he’s enjoyed in Washington for nearly 40 years. He teaches crab seminars for the Deception Pass Sail & Power Squadron, using a PowerPoint presentation to share what gear to use, which methods to try, when and where to drop pots around Whidbey Island and every other imaginable detail to educate the local crabber. “Long soaks improve odds,” Hudson said. Hudson prefers to dig cockle clams on a beach near his North Whidbey home to use for crab bait.
See CRABBING, page 2
The Town of Coupeville awarded a construction bid for the first phase of the Madrona Way Project and officials anticipate construction will start next week. The bid was awarded to C. Johnson Construction, Inc. out of Oak Harbor. A pre-construction meeting is scheduled for Thursday. Mayor Nancy Conard said contractors will meet with various entities from roads, utilities and town staff to map out details and what to expect. “We hope construction will start July 16 or soon after,” she said. Once construction begins, a detour will be put in place and Madrona Way between Broadway to Vine streets will be closed to through traffic. “It’s about six months of disruption,” Conard said. “Local people will still be able to get into their driveways.” A letter will be sent out to area residents explaining the disruption and detour information. Construction could go into November, depending on who gets the bid for phase Two, she said. The town will go out to bid for the second phase on July 16. The project is broken up into four sections. Staff established a system for the project that once C. Johnson Construction has completed the necessary utility requirements in section one, the contractor for Phase Two can come in behind them and begin the road improvements. It will go sequentially, Conard said. Also in an effort to stay within the timeline, the town built into the contract liquidated damages that levy fines if the contractors don’t meet deadlines and bonuses if they do. Six bids were received for the second phase, the utility portion. Of those bids, two were eliminated due to previous safety violations and two others were eliminated do to bid errors. C. Johnson Construction was actually the
See MADRONA, page 2