Quick Take
The Dungeness crab season will open in the northernmost regions of California in early January. The season remains closed in the Monterey Bay region until at least Jan. 11 due to the continued presence of humpback whales.
State officials announced plans Wednesday to partially open the Dungeness crab commercial fishing season in the northernmost regions of the state. However, the Monterey Bay region remains closed due to the continued presence of humpback whales. The next assessment for the region will take place on or around Jan. 11.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will open the Dungeness crab fishery from the Oregon border to the Sonoma/Mendocino county line on Jan. 5. All other fishing regions in the state will remain closed because of a risk that whales could become entangled in crab fishing lines. Recreational crab traps are also still restricted in these areas, although recreational crabbers may take Dungeness crabs using other methods, including hoop nets and crab snares.
This is the fourth time the opening of the crab season has been delayed this year. In late October, the opening was pushed back from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1. In mid-November, a new assessment date was scheduled for Dec. 7, followed by a third postponement on Dec. 8.
Crab fishing lines can be deadly to humpback whales, which are listed as endangered. Planes flying over the area noted a high number of whales migrating from the northern Pacific Coast south to breeding grounds off the coast of Mexico. The fishing lines can harm other sea life as well. In November, an endangered leatherback sea turtle was found dead off the Farallon Islands after becoming tangled in crab gear from a previous season.
Although the season has yet to open for most of California, warm El Niño weather conditions could entice the whales to return to the coast earlier than usual in the spring in order to feed in the anchovy-rich waters, ocean advocacy organization Oceana warned in a media release. “This could force an early end to an already compressed fishing season as thousands of vertical fishing lines in the water impede whales from safely swimming and feeding,” said Ashley Blacow-Draeger, Oceana’s spokesperson.
While the fishing industry says it is united in its desire to protect whales, crab fishers and the local fishing industry have suffered due to the delays. In 2023, the season didn’t open until early January. Fishers missed vital income from holiday sales, as most crab is eaten in the winter, and a flood of crabs on the market in January and February resulted in rock-bottom prices.
“It’s in a really bad place,” said fisherman Tim Obert. Obert serves as president of the Santa Cruz Commercial Fishermen’s Association and sits on the state’s Dungeness Crab Task Force. He has fished for crab for 23 years and says this is the worst fishing season in California he’s ever seen.
Crab fishers are struggling from the lack of income, he said: “There’s no other opportunity for them to go make a living. It’s not guys being lazy or not wanting to work. There’s just simply nothing to work for.”
Now, he and other fishers are wondering: Will there be a season at all?
“Before, we fished from Nov. 15 to June, and now we’re looking at seasons from Jan. 15, if we’re lucky, to probably March,” Obert said. “That’s a lot of time cut out of an industry that’s already struggling as a whole because of our loss of salmon season and the other opportunities that aren’t available to us.”
Hans Haveman, co-owner of H&H Fresh Fish Co., prioritizes local and sustainably caught seafood at his market in the Santa Cruz Harbor, but has resorted to importing live crabs from Oregon, where the season is open, in order to take advantage of the lucrative holiday crab market. “We normally want to have solidarity with the local fisherman,” said Haveman. “But I lose too much money without crab this time of year.”
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