National Fisherman Article 9/25

The latest and largest full-scale trial of pop-up fishing gear in the California commercial Dungeness crab fishery has concluded with strong results, indicating the gear is both effective for harvest and significantly reduces the risk of whale entanglements.

Conducted under a California Experimental Fishing Permit (EFP), the spring 2025 trials involved 12 commercial crab fishermen operating out of ports from Morro Bay to Crescent City. The project tested ropeless “on-demand” gear developed by Sub Sea Sonics and Guardian Ropeless Systems, which eliminates vertical lines in the water column by keeping lines and buoys stored with the traps until activated by an acoustic signal.

The traditional spring fishery off Central California has been effectively closed for six years due to the risk of whale and sea turtle entanglements. Pop-up gear presents a potential path to reopening these waters while meeting conservation goals.

According to project data, over 120 fishing trips were completed, involving 1,163 gear strings and a total of 25,721 traps. Crabbing was conducted at depths ranging from 27 to 392 feet. Fishers landed more than 217,000 pounds of crab with an estimated value of $1.4 million. The gear achieved a 98% reliability rate, and all gear strings were recovered — either through standard operation or backup retrieval methods — resulting in a 100% recovery rate and a gear loss rate of just 0.2%. In comparison, conventional single-trap gear can see annual gear loss rates between 5% and 10%.

Khevin Mellegers, a crab fisherman out of Santa Cruz who has participated in the EFP since its inception, said, “My intentions were to do this for myself, my family, and also to help provide something for a lot of the other smaller boats.” Reflecting on his experience, he added, “Out of the deployments that I’ve done over the three years, I think I’ve had two failures.” He has completed 568 gear sets.

“For the first time, fishermen in the California Dungeness crab fishery had the chance to trial popup gear at full scale, using their full stack of traps,” said Bart Chadwick of Sub Sea Sonics. “They were able to show that even with very high amounts of gear in localized areas and challenging spring weather conditions, all the fishermen and gear came home safely, good numbers of crab were caught, and no significant gear interactions occurred.”

Russ Mullins of Guardian Ropeless Systems said, “Two consecutive EFPs have shown that the Sub Sea Sonics and Guardian Ropeless pop-up system is affordable and highly reliable while at the same time virtually eliminating entanglement risk. It is time for the gear to be authorized so that all licensed commercial crabbers can participate.”

Dr. Geoff Shester, California campaign director and senior scientist for Oceana, described the test as “nothing less than wildly successful.” He stated, “This world-class testing proves once again that this innovative fishing gear is successful, profitable, enforceable, whale-safe, and ready to restore a vibrant spring crab fishery.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is in the process of finalizing regulations and is on track to authorize pop-up gear fleetwide by spring 2026.