Lodi News-Sentinel

No Christmas crab: California’s Dungeness season delayed again

- Linda Zavoral THE MERCURY NEWS

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California Dungeness crab is off the Christmas menu. And probably the New Year’s one also.

California Fish and Wildlife officials have again delayed the start of the state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishing season.

The risk of whales becoming tangled in crab fishing gear remains high for most of the coastal waters from the Mendocino County line south to the Mexican border, director Charlton H. Bonham announced Thursday night. In addition, the state reported a recent confirmed entangleme­nt of a leatherbac­k sea turtle in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear lost in a previous season.

The decision was made in consultati­on with representa­tives of the fishing industry, environmen­tal organizati­ons and scientists.

“Delaying the opening of the coming crab season is the right thing to do protect our wildlife and the long-term viability of the fishery,” said scientist Geoff Shester, the California director for the nonprofit Oceana conservati­on group and a member of the advisory panel. “We commend the director’s precaution­ary decision.”

Six whale entangleme­nts have been confirmed this year. The Pacific leatherbac­k sea turtle was discovered off the Farallon Islands on Nov. 24. That species was added to the state’s endangered list in 2021.

Shester said his group, like the state, is committed to finding solutions that work for the crab-fishing industry while ensuring “safer passage

The United Auto Workers has filed unfair labor practice charges against Honda Motor Co. Ltd. in Indiana, Hyundai Motor Co. in Alabama and Volkswagen AG in Tennessee for alleged illegal union-busting activities amid organizing drives.

The Detroit-based union announced the filings on Monday after launching an unpreceden­ted organizing campaign at 13 automakers earlier this month. The effort covers 150,000 autoworker­s, which would double the union’s current membership at the Detroit Three, and seek to build off the momentum of record gains in contracts made with General Motors Co., Ford for wildlife off our shores.”

Some recreation­al crab fishing is allowed, though crabbers may not use trap gear. According to the state order; only hoop nets and crab snares are allowed for now.

Another assessment will take place on or around Dec. 21. However, it’s unlikely that an opening date would be set in time for local residents to enjoy Dungeness from California coastal waters for any of the winter holidays. Many Bay Area restaurant­s, supermarke­ts and seafood purveyors are expected to bring in Dungeness from Oregon and Washington, where crabbing has begun.

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.

With delays to protect whales, the truncated 2021-22 season ran from Dec. 29 to April 8, and the 2022-23 season from Dec. 31 to this past April 15.

Motor Co. and Stellantis NV.

“We’re ready to demand our fair share of the pie,” UAW President Shawn Fain said during a Facebook Live presentati­on from Washington, D.C. “So, now the companies are bringing out the stick. Like corporatio­ns everywhere, no matter what they tell you, these companies are more than willing to break the law, if it means protecting their bottom line from the workers. They’ll lie, cheat, steal, intimidate. They’ll surveil people, and they’ll coerce, then out of the other side of their mouth, they’ll tell you, ‘We’re a family.’”

On Monday afternoon, the Detroit News sent emails requesting responses to the complaints to VW, Honda, and Hyundai.

Google’s mobile app store maintains a monopoly in the market for distributi­on of programs and payments on its Android software, a federal jury in California decided, dealing a blow to the technology giant in a high-stakes antitrust battle with Epic Games Inc.

The internet giant’s Play store willfully wields monopoly power through the Alphabet Inc. unit’s anticompet­itive conduct, jurors found Monday after deliberati­ng for less than four hours following a nearly monthlong trial in San Francisco.

The ruling could potentiall­y jeopardize billions of dollars of revenue generated by Google’s app store.

Two years ago Epic largely lost a similar antitrust challenge to Apple over its app store.

U.S. District Judge James Donato, who oversaw the trial, will decide whether Google must open the door for payment and app distributi­on methods outside its own app store following the verdict that Google Play policies are unlawful.

Google didn’t immediatel­y respond to a request for comment. Its shares were down 0.3% in extended trading.

Tim Sweeney, chief executive officer of Fortnite maker Epic, hailed the ruling in a post on social network X.

Epic sued Google three years ago, claiming the tech company monopolize­d the Android app distributi­on market for more than a decade by striking side deals with rivals and using its resources to thwart competitio­n.

In its defense, Google contended that its partnershi­ps help phones that run on the Android operating system better compete against smartphone market rival Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

 ?? SHAE HAMMOND/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS ?? A worker holds a Dungeness crab at Pier 45 in San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.
SHAE HAMMOND/BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/TNS A worker holds a Dungeness crab at Pier 45 in San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022.

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