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Oregon’s Dungeness crab fishery will not open until at least Dec. 31 after testing by state fishery managers revealed crabs are still too low in meat yield in some areas of the coast. The valuable commercial fishery traditionally opens on Dec. 1. In November, fishery managers announced the season would be delayed until mid-December because crabs were not plump enough. The most recent delay is not a big surprise, said Tim Novotny, the spokesman for the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, which advocates for the industry. “It was completely justified,” said John Corbin, a commercial fishermen in Clatsop County and chairman of the crab commission. Testing earlier this week showed low meat yield in crabs in the southern part of the state. Then -- “what really made things look a little bleak for us getting the fishery open,” Novotny said -- tests at the Washington state border near Long Beach also came back similarly short. “When that happened it really kind of limited our options for ensuring a quality product going to market,” he said. The commercial Dungeness crab fishery is managed under a tri-state agreement between Washington state, Oregon and California. In early December, multiple areas within the region still did not meet the criteria for an opening, according to Oregon fishery managers. The state will continue testing crab to determine if the season should open Dec. 31 in Oregon or be delayed further. It is possible Oregon could be split into two areas with different opening dates. For fishermen, the delay means even more uncertainty around an already difficult and dangerous occupation. “The uncertainty of the opener has been going on for a few years now,” Corbin said. “It just used to be we knew we were going Dec. 1.” But the fishery got to a very late start last year, at first, because of meat quality and then, later, because of divisive price negotiations and bad weather. Seasons have also been delayed in recent years because of elevated levels of the marine toxin domoic acid. Still, Corbin noted, Oregon saw a record $2.30 a pound. Corbin has heard that tribal crabbers in Washington state have been getting around $4.25 per pound. Corbin said he knows some fishermen who are trying to remain flexible, keeping gear on their boats so they can hop into other fisheries in case the crab season opener is delayed further. “You’ve just got to be prepared,” he said, “and hold on to the opening of the crab season loosely because you just don’t know when it might be.” Commercial harvest of Dungeness crab in Oregon bays is closed for the remainder of the year. Crab closures due to elevated levels of domoic acid are in effect from Cape Blanco to the California border.