Fishers hope for better crab season
Tests so far show safe levels of neurotoxin that delayed last year’s start until March
“There’s a lot of excitement about the crab season. Everyone’s gearing up.” —Antonette Kortie, H&H Fresh Fish processing manager
SANTA CRUZ — As Tim Obert helped prepare the 50foot “Misty Dawn” on Wednesday morning at the Santa Cruz Harbor, he sounded optimistic about the 2016-2017 commercial crab season, which opens Nov. 15.
“The test crab appear to be really high quality, which is good for us, good for the customer and good for overseas markets,” said Obert, 30, as he carried gear along the dock.
Most importantly, early California Department of Public Health safety tests of the crab along the Central Coast have shown safe levels of domoic acid, the naturally occurring neurotoxin that delayed last year’s season until March, wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of California crab fishermen.
As a result, Obert and the four other crew members of the 50-foot “Misty Dawn” are eager for a strong start to the 20162017 season.
“If everything’s a go, we’ll drop 400 pots on opening day and just keep going,” said Obert, a lifelong Santa Cruz resident with 16 crab seasons under his belt. “From opening day to the close of the fishery, this is what we do.”
Next door to the commercial dock, H&H Fresh Fish processing manager Antonette Kortie was also hard at work preparing for the upcoming season.
“There’s a lot of excitement about the crab season,” Kortie said. “Everyone’s gearing up.”
Kortie said she’d heard positive reports about the quality of the crab and was optimistic the commercial season would open on time.
The U.S. Coast Guard is also busy. Coast Guard officials will be conducting “Operation Safe Crab,” a program of dockside exams and safety spot checks at the Santa Cruz Harbor from Nov. 8 to Nov. 10.
“One of the most dangerous jobs in America continues to be commercial crab fishing,” said a Coast Guard posting at the commercial dock. “Every year, California fishermen’s lives are in danger during crab season, with West Coast crabbing vessels having a historically high fatality rate.”
Meanwhile, recreational crab fishermen are set to start Nov. 5, 10 days earlier than their commercial counterparts.
“You’ll be seeing people getting ready this weekend,” said longtime Bayside Marine owner Todd Farser, who sells recreational crab fishing gear. “The six-pack charters are preparing. Guys have been ordering a lot of pots and rope. Business has been decent.”
While Farser said poor weather might delay the recreational opener, he was confident the crab fishery as a whole would get off to a good start.
Ben Laughlin, 45, who was visiting Santa Cruz from Tacoma, Washington, on Wednesday, watched as a pair of fishermen lugged crab pots out of the back of their pickup truck and set them on the dock.
“Here’s to a strong crab season,” Laughlin said. “You Californians could use it.”