San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Dungeness crab season delayed
The opening of the Dungeness crab season will be delayed for the fourth year in a row, which means that shoppers won’t be able to purchase the crustacean for Thanksgiving celebrations.
The upcoming Dungeness crab season was due to start Nov. 15 for the local commercial fishing fleet, but it is being delayed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife because a large number of endangered whales have been observed in the waters offshore of San Francisco and Monterey Bay. To protect whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear, sport crab fishing will also face some restrictions.
Dungeness crab has traditionally has been part of Bay Area Thanksgiving menus. But humpback whales in particular have made a habit of staying in nearshore fishing zones into late fall instead of migrating to Mexico or Central America as they did in previous years.
The commercial fishing season will be delayed until at least Dec. 1, and the opening date will be reassessed on Nov. 23.
The sport fishing season for Dungeness crab will begin on time on Nov. 5, but fishers won’t be able to use crab traps, only hoop nets or snares, in order to protect whales. Crab traps, which are mostly used by commercial crabbers, can cause entanglements because they have a line that runs from the ocean’s surface to the sea floor.
“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,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife director Charlton Bonham. “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.”
Surveys done from airplanes found that there were dozens of humpback whales in the fishing zone right off San Francisco Bay in recent weeks, as many as 128 per day. Large numbers of humpback whales were also recorded farther south and around Monterey Bay.
Scientists who study humpback whales say they began coming closer to shore during a marine heat wave from 2014 to 2016 that drove anchovies close to the coast and into San Francisco Bay. Many of the humpback whales have stayed in the area ever since.