Quick Take
While recreational crabbing opens Nov. 1 for most of the state, commercial fishing faces a delayed season opener due to high numbers of humpback whales and leatherback sea turtles. There are also restrictions on recreational crabbers from the Sonoma-Mendocino county line to Lopez Point in Monterey County.
The familiar sight of fresh local crab at winter holiday feasts could be delayed once again this year, as California officials announced restrictions on the upcoming commercial Dungeness crab season through the end of the year.
This is the seventh consecutive year that the Dungeness crab season has been delayed in order to protect whales from becoming entangled in the fishing gear.
Crab season for both commercial and recreational fishers typically begins in November. But while recreational crabbing opens Nov. 1 for most of the state, commercial fishing faces a delayed season opener until at least Jan 1. across much of the California coast due to high numbers of humpback whales and leatherback sea turtles in coastal waters, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday in a statement.
CDFW said it will reassess conditions for migrating whales in mid-December to decide if commercial fishing can start around New Year’s Day.
Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report showing a steep increase in large whale entanglements nationwide. There were 95 large whales were confirmed entangled in 2024, up from 64 in 2023, and above the historical average of around 71 per year, the nonprofit group Oceana said in a statement.
“Another year of a delayed commercial Dungeness crab season is incredibly difficult for our fleet and port communities,” said Lisa Damrosch, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, a trade association representing commercial fishers on the West Coast. “However, given the current risk assessment process, the commercial fleet supported this outcome as the most practical path forward.”
There are also restrictions on recreational crabbers in ocean waters from the Sonoma-Mendocino county line to Lopez Point in Monterey County, a region that includes Santa Cruz County. Crab traps are temporarily prohibited in these waters, though other methods like hoop nets and crab snares are still allowed, the state agency said.
However, California officials issued a fleet advisory, warning recreational fishers to avoid setting gear where whales are present. Hoop nets must also be checked every two hours and cannot be left unattended.
“The commercial Dungeness crab season delay is the best course of action for the fishery and the whales, and it is in direct response to the high numbers of whales entangled this year,” Oceana’s California campaign director and senior scientist, Geoff Shester, said in a statement. “The risk that more endangered whales could become entangled in crab gear remains high, so we must redouble our efforts now.”
Shester added that he hopes good news is coming for commerical fishers. After California fishers tested new whale-safe pop-up crab traps last year, the state is on track to approve the traps for use by commercial crabbers for the first time in the coming spring fishing season.
Farther north, from the Oregon border to Sonoma County, both recreational and commercial crabbing are prohibited due to dangerous levels of domoic acid found in crabs. The naturally occurring neurotoxin can cause illness in humans ranging from nausea to memory loss and, in severe cases, death.
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