Dungeness crab season can open Dec. 1 in California’s far-north counties

Dungeness crab will make a December comeback.

Humpback whales have migrated out of the far northern waters in California, the state’s Fish and Wildlife officials have announced, and crabs there have passed quality tests, which means the commercial fishery in Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties (Zones 1 and 2) can open Dec. 1.

The traditional Nov. 15 start of the season had been delayed by the risk of whales becoming entangled in crab pot lines.

However, that risk still exists from Sonoma County south to Lopez Point in Monterey — the region the CDFW calls Zones 3 and 4 — so commercial crabbing still will be prohibited in the Bay Area until further notice.

“Available data indicate high numbers of whales remain in the fishing grounds,” CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham said in a statement issued Friday night. “When data indicate whales have migrated out of the fishing grounds, CDFW stands ready to open the commercial season and lift the temporary recreational trap restriction in Fishing Zones 3 and 4.”

Weather permitting, the next surveys for those Bay Area zones should take place on or before Dec. 15, officials said.

In those zones, recreational crabbing is currently allowed so long as crabbers use hoop nets and crab snares rather than traps.