Local Dungeness crab may be harder to find for Sacramento’s holiday season. Here’s why
It’s going to be harder for Californians to find fresh, local Dungeness crab for their upcoming holiday meals — at least until whales swimming off the coast move along on their annual migration.
Late last week, regulators announced they would be delaying the start of the commercial crabbing season that begins on Nov. 15 for all but the northern third of the state’s coastline.
The closure spans from the Mendocino-Sonoma county line to the border with Mexico, and includes San Francisco, home to popular crab shops at Fisherman’s Wharf and a key source of the Sacramento region’s Dungeness crab.
Regulators say the delay is necessary to protect blue and humpback whales from being entangled in crab fishing gear.
A state wildlife agency report notes several dozen whales, including three endangered blue whales, have been spotted swimming recently in areas where they’ve been known to become entangled in the lines that connect floating buoys to the crab traps below the surface.
Environmentalists say at least 11 humpback whales in California have been entangled in fishing gear so far in 2022.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also temporarily prohibited recreational crab anglers from dropping crab traps at the start of the sport fishing season, which was scheduled to begin on Saturday. Sport anglers, however, can still fish with hoop nets or snares, which are safer for whales.
Crab season delayed through Thanksgiving
Regulators say they’ll provide an updated whale “risk assessment” by Nov. 23, which could be used to set a new season opener.
Fresh crab is a significant part of the Northern California experience during the holiday season. Dungeness meat is the centerpiece for hundreds of community fundraisers, and many families incorporate Dungeness crab into their holiday dinners.
But the start of the state’s official Dungeness crabbing season has been hardly a sure bet over the past few years.
Some years, toxic algae blooms off the coast contaminated crab meat and prompted health officials to push back the start of the season well past the holidays.
In 2019, state regulators settled a 2017 lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity that sought to protect whales and sea turtles from becoming entangled in crabbing gear.
The settlement required the Department of Fish and Wildlife to do monthly monitoring of humpback and blue whales and Pacific leatherback sea turtles and use the data to enforce fishing closures and restrictions to ensure the creatures wouldn’t become wrapped in lines and buoys.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Local Dungeness crab may be harder to find for Sacramento’s holiday season. Here’s why."