Delayed dungeness crab season was set to start on Thursday
Zone 4 finally gets OK from state for commercial crabbing
Little by little, the California coast is opening up for Dungeness crab season.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife has given the all-clear for commercial crabbing was set to begin Thursday in what the state calls Zone 4 — from Pigeon Point south to Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay.
The approval means that wildlife officials have determined that humpback whales, which are in danger of becoming entangled in the trap lines, have migrated from that region to winter breeding grounds, out of harm’s way.
However, foraging whales still remain in Zone 3, which encompasses most of the Bay Area coastal waters, from Sonoma County south through San Francisco and San Mateo County’s Half Moon Bay. Both recreational and commercial crabbing remain prohibited in this region. It’s the last segment of the California coast under restrictions this season.
“Fishing Zones 1, 2, 5 and 6” — the northernmost California counties and Southern California to the Mexican border — “are now open and fresh Dungeness crab have been arriving at local markets and onto the plates of eager crab-loving Californians,” CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham said in a statement Dec. 9. “Successful crabbing for the recreational fishery is also continuing in those zones.”
According to agency officials, the whale presence and entanglement risks in Zone 3 will be reassessed Wednesday, weather permitting.
Under the directive, recreational crabbing in Zone 4 may begin this morning. Commercial crabbers may set their traps at 8:01 a.m. Monday for the first haul Wednesday, though fleet advisory and depth constraints must be observed, the CDFW said.
The Bay Area’s commercial crab season traditionally gets underway Nov. 15.
However, since 2015, there have been delays in all but one commercial season here. A toxin, domoic acid, that could sicken anyone who eats the tainted crab destroyed Northern California’s 2015-16 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 officially was set to begin last until Dec. 23, but price negotiations between crab fleets and seafood processors delayed the start until early January of this year.