The already-shortened 2022-2023 Dungeness crab season in the Bay Area and central California will come to an end in two weeks.
California Fish and Wildlife Department officials on Thursday ordered an April 15 close to the commercial season to minimize the risk of humpback whales becoming entangled in fishing gear as they return to forage off the California coast. The decision was made in consultation with representatives of the fishing industry, environmental organizations and scientists.
The order applies to the fishing zones from the Sonoma/Mendocino county line to the Mexican border, and goes into effect at noon April 15. For the time being, crabbing will still be allowed in the waters off Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties, state officials said.
The season started late this year — Dec. 31, with a 50% trap reduction — after a series of delays. The trap restrictions were lifted in mid-January. The 2021-2022 season was about a week shorter, ending April 8, 2022.
Scientist Geoff Shester, California campaign director for the nonprofit conservation group Oceana and a member of the state advisory group, praised state officials for taking a “precautionary and proactive” stance.
“Whales will soon arrive off our shores in large numbers to feast on krill and small fish, and when they arrive it’s heartening to know they will hopefully be able to find the food they need without the risk of becoming entangled in a fishing line,” he said Thursday.
Traditionally, California’s commercial season begins Nov. 15 and the recreational season earlier than that.
Since 2015, there have been delays in all but one commercial Dungeness season in the Bay Area. A toxin, domoic acid, that could sicken anyone who eats the tainted crab destroyed Northern California’s 2015-2016 commercial season and created delays in other years.
In 2018, the commercial season began without a hitch although recreational crabbers had to postpone their fishing.
In 2019 and 2020, the fishing line danger to whales resulted in a crabbing delay of several weeks. The 2020 crabbing season was officially set to begin Dec. 23, but price negotiations between crab fleets and seafood processors delayed the start until early January 2021.
The 2021 season was delayed two weeks for far Northern California, and got underway Dec. 1. In the Bay Area, the commercial crabbing season wasn’t allowed to start until Dec. 29. The end came earlier than usual – April 8, 2022 – after two whales became entangled in crab-fishing gear, one off the San Mateo County coast and one in Monterey Bay.
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