COOS BAY — The Oregon Court of Appeals has sided with the state in upholding a commercial crab pot limit established by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2006.

A group of more than 20 fishermen and industry-related businesses from Washington, Oregon and California filed a petition for judicial review against the state in August 2006 challenging the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s June 9, 2006, ruling limiting the number of crab pots.

The crab pot limit controversy split the fleet. Some fishermen agreed with the limits. Some didn’t.

The commission approved tiered limits that gave crabbers 200, 300 or 500 pots to fish, based on their vessel’s catch history. The Oregon boats’ catch histories included crab those boats caught in Washington and California as well.

Fishermen Against Irresponsible Reallocation Inc., represented by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorneys John A. DiLorenzo Jr. and Gregory A. Chaimov, said the commission’s decision unfairly reallocated the number of crab pots a fisherman can use. The fishermen also said the commission didn’t take into account the number of pots crabbers have used in the past.

Not so, said Appeals Judges Rick Haselton, Rex Armstrong and Wallace P. Carson Jr.

“We conclude that the commission acted within the authority delegated to it by the legislature and, thus, that the rules are valid,” they wrote in the Sept. 24 opinion.

Many fishermen who had more than 500 pots — some up to 1,000 or more — said the rules were unfair and that cutting the number of pots they could use in half was unjust.

Charleston fisherman Jeff Reeves, who wasn’t involved in the lawsuit, said counting out of state production was a mistake.

For example, he said, if a Washington crabber also fished in California and only a little bit in Oregon but also had a lot of production, he would have received a top-tier, 500-pot limit.

“I feel the crab pot limit was flawed,” Reeves said Friday. “It shifted a great part of Oregon’s crab resource out of state.”

On the other hand, some crabbers find the limits bring a welcome level of efficiency to the fishery.

Nick Edwards, who also fishes out of Charleston, was one of the crabbers who received a 500-pot, top-tier limit. The limits have made fishermen more efficient, he said.

For instance, his boat is big enough that he can stack all his pots on deck or in the fish holds. When he goes to set his gear, he can take all his pots to one spot — the North Coast, for example, if he feels the fishing will be better there, or somewhere else — all at once.

Fishermen are landing the same amount of crab, officials say. They just have to turn their gear faster.

“It’s lengthened out the fishery,” Edwards said, so the season lasts months instead of weeks.

Fishermen also don’t incur the extra cost of maintaining hundreds of pots, he added.