Officials order delay in Bay Area’s Dungeness crab season
For the second consecutive year, California officials are delaying the Bay Area’s commercial Dungeness crab season to decrease the chances of whales currently off the coast getting ensnarled by fishing lines.
The season, scheduled to start Monday, will be postponed until at least Dec. 1, when the next assessment will take place.
“While no one wants to delay the season … a delay is necessary to reduce the risk of entanglement,” Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said Nov. 4. “The fleet has gone to great lengths to be more nimble in order to protect whales and turtles, and the results are promising.”
He made the announcement on behalf of the CDFW and what’s called the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, which includes members of the commercial crab fleet, environmental organizations and other agencies.
Representatives for fishing crews applauded the declaration.
“We support any decision that will allow for the best commercial crab fishing season opportunities for our fishermen,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association, noting that new regulations could “shut crab fishing down for even one whale interaction with our gear.”
“It’s a prudent decision to wait two weeks to prevent that possibility from happening.”
During aerial surveys Oct. 28-29 off the California coast, CDFW staff observed 48 humpback whales and another vessel survey approved by the agency “made 118 sightings of an estimated 345 humpback whales,” the state declaration said.
“When the whales migrate out of the fishing grounds in coming weeks, CDFW stands ready to open the commercial season,” Bonham said.
The ruling affects the Central zone from the Sonoma-mendocino county line south through Morro Bay, San Francisco and Half Moon Bay and down to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.