For the fourth consecutive year, California officials are delaying the Bay Area’s commercial Dungeness crab season to decrease the chances of humpback whales currently off the coast getting ensnarled by the crab-pot fishing lines.
The season was scheduled to start Nov. 15 in the waters from the Sonoma/Mendocino County border south to the Mexican border.
The order came down Friday evening from Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“Based on recent surveys, large aggregations of humpbacks whales continue to forage in California coastal waters and allowing the use of crab traps would increase the risk of an entanglement,” Bonham said in announcing the decision. “We will continue to work with both the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fisheries to protect whales and sea turtles while striving to maximize fishing opportunity.”
Although another assessment will take place on or before Nov. 23, an opening date in time for California residents to enjoy Dungeness for the Nov. 24 Thanksgiving holiday is unlikely. That assessment could, however, lead to an opening date of Dec. 1, officials said.
The recreational Dungeness season will be allowed to start as scheduled on Nov. 5 — but with restrictions. Crabbers may not use trap gear, according to the state order; only hoop nets and crab snares will be allowed until further assessment.
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, recreational crabbers had to postpone their fishing, but the commercial season began without a hitch.
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 under way 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 of this year– 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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