Dungeness crab season is delayed yet again. On Tuesday, the state announced the commercial crab fishing season from Point Arena to the Mexican border would be pushed a second time to Dec. 16 to prevent endangered whales from getting entangled and injured in fishing gear.
The state had already delayed the opening of the season from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1 for the same reason, disappointing Bay Area seafood lovers, who traditionally like to have Dungeness crab on Thanksgiving, and the local crab fishing fleet, which makes most of its income from the busy Thanksgiving and holiday season. Because of new rules established this month, the state has the authority to close certain fishing areas when there is evidence of a certain number of humpback whales, blue whales or Pacific leatherback sea turtles in crab fishing areas.
Recent aerial surveys have shown there to still be whales in fishing rounds, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said in a statement announcing the latest delay. The state also recently announced it would delay the Dungeness crab season in the northern region, from Mendocino County to Del Norte County, from Dec. 1 to Dec. 16, but the reason was different —crabs in that area failed meat quality tests or basically didn’t grow meaty enough to catch.
“Our hope is both quality testing and additional marine life survey data will support a unified statewide opener on Dec. 16, just in time to have crab for the holidays and New Year,” said Bonham in the statement.
The marine animals began staying in fishing zones more often starting with the marine heat wave, sometimes known as “the blob,” that started in 2014, and began getting entangled in the lines that connect crab pots to buoys at the ocean’s surface. That led to a lawsuit from the an Oakland environmental group Center for Biological Diversity in 2017, which caused the state to take stronger action to prevent the injuries.
In a recent statement, the Center for Biological Diversity said it welcomed new protections for endangered marine mammals but said that the state should still do still more to prevent their injuries and deaths.
Though entanglements have decreased in recent years, last year, the season was delayed for similar reasons until Dec. 15.
Larry Collins of the San Francisco Community Fishing Association expressed frustration with the continued delays, while acknowledging the need to prevent entanglements, which he said the fleet has worked hard to do.
“We’ve been fishing alongside the whales for 100 years and the only time we had a problem was when we had ‘the blob’ here,” he said. “This fleet needs to catch a break. We’re not getting it from our state legislature, that’s for sure.”
The department said it would do more flyover surveys to check on the presence of whales in early December and then will announce if fishing can indeed start Dec. 16.
Tara Duggan is The San Francisco Chronicle’s assistant food editor. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
The Link LonkNovember 25, 2020 at 08:36AM
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Bay Area’s commercial Dungeness crab season delayed again to Dec. 16 - San Francisco Chronicle
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