Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 603 - DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Division 25 - FOOD ESTABLISHMENT STANDARDS AND STANDARDS FOR RETAIL FOOD SERVICE ACTIVITIES › Section 603-025-0410 - Requirements for Dungeness Crab

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
Domoic acid is a natural toxin that can accumulate in certain
				shellfish and fish species and cause amnesic shellfish poisoning, a serious
				illness, in consumers. In Oregon, a monitoring and response system for
				recreationally and commercially harvested shellfish and Dungeness crab is in
				place to protect public health and manage the risk of domoic acid
				contamination. The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) analyzes Dungeness
				crab and crab viscera samples gathered from the waters of this state and the
				Pacific Ocean off Oregon for domoic acid. The Oregon Department of Fish and
				Wildlife (ODFW) is responsible for opening and closing the crab fishery as well
				as requiring restrictions and reporting on crab harvest and landing.
(1)
Application.
These rules
			 apply to commercial fishing and commercial landings regulated by ODFW pursuant
			 to Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) Chapter 509, to licensed food processors
			 regulated by ODA pursuant to ORS Chapter 616, and to any person, wholesaler or
			 food processor that purchases or receives crab harvested from the waters of
			 this state or the Pacific Ocean off Oregon.
(2)
Definitions
. For the
			 purposes of these rules, unless the context requires otherwise.
(a) "Biotoxin management zone" consists of at
			 least one violative zone and the adjacent buffer zones. A violative zone is a
			 harvest area with domoic acid test results at or above 30 ppm in crab viscera,
			 at or above 20 ppm in crab meat, or both, that has been either closed to crab
			 harvest or where the harvest and landing of crab for commercial purposes has
			 been prohibited unless it is in accordance with sections 5 and 6 of this rule.
			 'Buffer zone" is defined below.
(b)
			 "Buffer zone" means one or more harvest areas adjacent to a violative zone in
			 which, in order to protect public health from domoic acid concerns, the harvest
			 of crab for commercial purposes has been prohibited unless it is in accordance
			 with sections 5 and 6 of this rule. A buffer zone is a part of the biotoxin
			 management zone. Buffer zones have domoic acid results below 30 ppm in the
			 viscera.
(c) "Crab sample set"
			 means all whole crab collected for pre-season testing, routine monitoring, or
			 during a restriction or closure, during a specific sample gathering event from
			 multiple depths within a harvest area.
(d) "Crab" means Dungeness crab
			 (
Cancer magister or Metacarcinus magister
) harvested and sold
			 for commercial purposes from waters of this state or the Pacific Ocean off
			 Oregon
.
(e)
			 "Eviscerate" or "Evisceration" means the common processor's action of removing
			 and discarding the entire intestinal tract, hepatopancreas, all associated
			 abdominal organs of a crab.
(f)
			 "HACCP Plan" means a hazard analysis critical control point plan as described
			 in
			 21
			 CFR §
										123.6 (2016).
(g) "Harvest" means to fish for, hunt,
			 pursue, catch, capture or kill, or attempt to fish for, hunt, pursue, catch,
			 capture or kill.
(h) "Harvest area"
			 means a section of waters of this state or the Pacific Ocean off Oregon
			 delineated for crab traceability purposes. Harvest area are defined as the
			 following geographic areas, including all coastal waters of this state,
			 intertidal areas, rivers and ports between the following boundaries, over which
			 the state of Oregon has jurisdiction, and the Pacific Ocean off Oregon:
50-A: OR/WA border to Cape Falcon (latitude
			 46° 15' N to latitude 45° 46' N) including the Oregon portions of the
			 Columbia River
50-B: Cape Falcon to
			 Cape Lookout (latitude 45° 46' N to latitude 45° 20.3' N)
50-C: Cape Lookout to Cascade Head (latitude
			 45° 20.3' N to latitude 45° 04' N)
50-D: Cascade Head to Cape Foulweather
			 (latitude 45° 04' N to latitude 44° 46.4' N)
50-E: Cape Foulweather to Waldport (latitude
			 44° 46.4' N to latitude 44 ° 26' N)
50-F: Waldport to Heceta Head (latitude
			 44° 26' N to latitude 44° 08.3' N) including the entirety of the Alsea
			 Bay estuary
50-G: Heceta Head to
			 Tahkenitch Creek (latitude 44° 08.3' N to latitude 43° 47' N)
50-H: Tahkenitch Creek to North Bend
			 (latitude 43° 47' N to latitude 43° 25' N)
50-I: North Bend to Bandon (latitude 43°
			 25' N to latitude 43° 07' N) including the entirety of the Coos Bay and
			 South Slough estuaries
50-J: Bandon
			 to Cape Blanco (latitude 43° 07' N to latitude 42° 50' N)
50-K: Cape Blanco to Gold Beach (latitude
			 42° 50' N to latitude 42° 26' N)
50-L: Gold Beach to OR/CA border (latitude
			 42° 26' N to latitude 42° 00' N) including the entirety of the Gold
			 Beach estuary
(i)
			 "Land", "Landed" or "Landing" means either of the following:
(A) For fisheries where food fish were taken
			 by use of a vessel, "land, landed or landing" means to begin transfer of food
			 fish from a vessel. Once transfer begins, all food fish on board the vessel are
			 counted as part of that landing.
(B) For fisheries where food fish were taken
			 without use of any vessel, "land, landed or landing" means to begin transfer of
			 food fish from a harvester to a wholesale fish dealer, wholesale fish bait
			 dealer, or food fish canner, under which the following provisions apply:
(i) When the harvester and the wholesale fish
			 dealer, wholesale fish bait dealer, or food fish canner are the same person or
			 entity, transfer occurs when the food fish arrive at the licensed premises of
			 the wholesale fish dealer, wholesale fish bait dealer, or food fish canner;
			 and
(ii) Once transfer begins, all
			 food fish from the harvest area are counted as part of that landing.
(j) "Processor" means
			 any person engaged in commercial, custom, or institutional processing of fish
			 or fishery products, in Oregon, in another state, or in a foreign country. A
			 processor includes any person engaged in the production of any foods that are
			 to be used in market or consumer tests.
(k) "Processing" means handling, storing,
			 preparing, heading, eviscerating, freezing, changing into different market
			 forms, manufacturing, preserving, packing, labeling, dockside unloading or
			 holding.
(l) "Results" or "domoic
			 acid test results" means the test results that Oregon Department of Agriculture
			 obtains by testing crab sample set(s) for domoic acid.
(m) "Sell" includes to offer or possess for
			 sale, barter, exchange or trade.
(n) "Wholesaler" means any person who buys
			 crab that is subject to these rules for resale to retailers, other merchants,
			 or industrial, institution, and commercial users for resale or business
			 use.