Drop in whale entanglements fuels optimism that Dungeness crab season can open Jan. 1

This week, planes are flying along the coast of California to gather vital information that will help determine the opening date for the commercial Dungeness crab season, one of Santa Cruz County’s most important fisheries. 

From the air, staffers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are searching for signs of humpback whales, blue whales and leatherback sea turtles along the state’s coast. These sea creatures risk getting entangled in the thick ropes that connect crab traps resting on the seafloor to a buoy floating on the surface. If the number of migrating whales is low enough for the boats to safely put out traps with a low risk of entangling whales, the season will open on Jan. 1. If there are still abundant whales traveling south to their breeding grounds off the coast of Mexico, the season could open at a later date. 

The department aims to release its findings publicly on Monday, and will meet with representatives from the crab fishing industry next Wednesday to discuss how much gear should be in the water, depending on the number of whales, said Ryan Bartling, a senior scientist at CDFW. “The charge that we gave them for this particular assessment is to meet with your ports, come prepared to discuss a recommendation about the opener and specifically how much gear you think is appropriate given the level of risk,” he said. “That’s what they’re going to build their recommendation around.” 

Early data shows that mitigation efforts are working to decrease entanglements, although they come at a cost for the industry. So far this year, the CDFW has recorded only nine whales entangled in fishing lines off the coast of California, with three traced back to the state’s crab fishing industry. That’s down from last year, when there were 17 whale entanglements off the coast of California, four of which connected with California-based crab fishers and the rest attributed to gear of unknown origin, according to a report by the CDFW. 

Crab fishers are taking a financial hit due to restrictions, but it’s worth it, said Santa Cruz crab fisher Tim Obert. “The fishermen are literally doing everything possible to minimize interactions with wildlife, and they’re giving up a lot,” said Obert. “They’re sacrificing financial benefit, their time and their effort, but it’s the right thing to do.”

For the past three years, the department restricted fishers to using half of the traps they have permits for — if a fisher had a permit for 100 crab traps, they could use only 50, for example — to decrease the number of lines in the water to lower the risk of entanglement for whales and other sea life. 

The number of whales coming into contact with fishing gear has increased nationally over the past decade, and entanglements are often fatal to sea life. This has led to an effort by the CDFW and the fishing industry to prevent entanglement by delaying the opening to the crab season from mid-November into early January, after migrating whales have left the area. 

For the past four years, fishers have tested cutting-edge ropeless pop-up traps, with promising results, and a program launched last year by Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, a commercial fishing organization, pays fishers for removing and returning lost gear they find out on the water.  

Scientists are still seeing more entangled whales than they want to see, said Bartling, but he is cautiously optimistic that regulations make a difference. “I’d like to believe that it is working” to reduce entanglements, he said. “If we can continue to refine our management approach, maybe we can get them down even further.” 

Entanglements could decrease if more fishers switch to using ropeless gear in the spring, a season when whales begin returning to the area. For the first time since experimental trials began four years ago, the new technology, which is marketed as a whale-safe alternative to traditional crab traps, is expected to become available to all licensed crab fishers in the state without a special permit as soon as this spring. 

“We have the data to show that we need to be getting those vertical lines out of the water sooner before the large number of whales come back in early spring,” said Geoff Shester, a chief scientist at Oceana, a global nonprofit that supports ocean environments. 

Bartling commended the fishing industry for adapting to a shorter fishing season and new gear, often at great financial cost, in order to save the whales. “If someone had told me five years ago that this fleet would have agreed to these delays on their own admission, I would have said you were probably a little bit nuts,” he said. “It’s been a big collaborative effort, and I think we are making good progress.”

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