California Dungeness Crab Season Delayed for Seventh Consecutive Year

The start of the commercial Dungeness crab season was postponed Friday, marking the seventh consecutive year of delays to protect endangered marine life and sideline Sonoma County and coastal California fishing fleets.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said the continued presence of humpback whales along the coast required the department to postpone opening for business beyond what was once the traditional start date of Nov. 15.

“We expected this and we’re going to have to adapt,” said Dick Ogg, president of the Bodega Bay Fishermen’s Marketing Association. “Fishermen are doing their best to make adjustments based on the season and through the equipment we use. The impacts are significant, not only financially but emotionally as well.”

In aerial surveys Oct. 19, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers observed 108 humpback whales in the area stretching from the Sonoma-Mendocino border to Pigeon Point near Half Moon Bay, the Fish and Life director said. California Wilderness Chuck Bonham in Friday’s press release. .

The high concentration of those whales requires the delay of the commercial season under a state framework first implemented seven years ago and formally launched in 2020 to protect marine mammals at risk of entanglement in fishing gear.

The measure occurred after Center for Biological Diversity in Oakland sued the state for violating the Endangered Species Act after what it called a “record” 21 endangered or threatened whales and one endangered leatherback turtle became entangled in commercial gear in 2016.

The department said it will reassess the risk to humpback whales again around Nov. 15 to potentially open the commercial season Dec. 1 south of the Sonoma-Mendocino line.

North of there, the commercial start typically falls later, Dec. 1, and will be evaluated during the Nov. 15 risk assessment, CDFW spokesman Ryan Bartling said.

Recreational crab fishing will open statewide starting Nov. 2, the fish and wildlife agency said. However, the use of crab traps will be temporarily prohibited between the Sonoma-Mendocino line and Lopez Point in Monterey County to safeguard whales, the agency said.

Recreational crabbers in that area can catch Dungeness by other means, including hoop nets and crab traps.

The trade postponement is another blow to the state’s beleaguered fishing fleet.

Last year, The Dungeness trading season was delayed until Jan. 18, months after the most lucrative part of the season for California ships.

Postponements have become an anticipated but feared new norm for California commercial fishermen. They haven’t started crabbing on the traditional Nov. 15 opening since 2017.

“This is very, very shocking,” Ogg said. “It impacts shoppers, it impacts the community and it impacts you. This resource belongs to you and we are your conduit to that resource.”

Contact staff writer Anna Armstrong at 707-521-5255 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @annavarmstrongg.