Dungeness crab season will open in Central California on Jan. 5

The commercial Dungeness crab fishing season will open on the Central Coast on Jan. 5, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife announced Friday. The season opener has been postponed three times from its traditional start date in mid-November. 

The season will open for the entire state south of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line, including Santa Cruz County. Commercial crab fishers will be subject to a 50% trap reduction, which means they can drop half of the pots that they are permitted to use. The fishers will be able to drop their pots on Jan. 2 to soak in the water for a few days in order to lure crabs, and bring them to the surface at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 5. Starting Jan. 15, they will be allowed to drop 75% of their pots. 

The hope is that by reducing the amount of gear in the water, there will be fewer opportunities for wildlife to become entangled in the fishing lines. Whale entanglements in abandoned or lost fishing gear have increased over the past six years, and are often fatal. 

The CDFW will also lift the recreational crab trap restrictions in Fishing Zones 3 and 4 – an area that includes Monterey Bay – on Jan. 2 at 8:01 a.m. After this time, spot fishers will be able to use crab pots. 

Veteran commercial fisher Tim Obert said that opening with a gear reduction is a good compromise for fishers, the crab industry and environmentalists. While there are still whales in the area, CDFW expects that the numbers will have dropped to an acceptable level by the time the fishery opens in January. “They’re predicting that the whales that are still there will have left,” said Obert.

Obert anticipates that the price for crab could be high for consumers this year because there seem to be fewer crabs in the area. “You never know what’s in the ocean until you go, but from what we’re hearing from recreational fishers, it sounds like a lower volume year,” Obert said. 

Last year, local crab fishers earned between $3 to $3.50 per pound. This year, Obert expects the price will increase $4.50 to $5, which translates to a price above $12 per pound for consumers. “Hopefully it won’t be too much of a deficit for us, and the public should expect to pay more of a premium because it’ll be more expensive off the boat,” he said. 

“We are cautiously optimistic about the commercial season opener of the Dungeness crab fishery,” said Geoff Shester of Oceana, a nonprofit environmentalist group, in a media release. “Our support for the season opener demonstrates our support for California fishermen, and we hope the reduced amount of fishing gear in the water will be enough to avoid interactions with the whales migrating south to winter breeding grounds, and for the juvenile whales that remain off California throughout the winter.”

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.