First it was Thanksgiving, and now it’s Christmas. It looks as though Bay Area households will be without fresh, local Dungeness crab for another major holiday.
California’s commercial Dungeness crab season is set to begin Dec. 23, but local fleets still aren’t planning to venture out until wholesale prices for crab improve. Local fleets say they need higher wholesale prices in order to justify spending money on gas, gear and labor.
Over the past 15 years, wholesale prices have usually fallen into the range of $2.50 to $3.25 per pound. Pacific Seafood, a wholesale buyer that purchases over 50% of the Dunegeness crab on the Pacific Coast and often dictates the wholesale market for local crabbers, offered boats $2.25 per pound for their crab hauls earlier this week. San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association President John Barnett said many local crabbers want to see the price at $3.30. Pacific Seafood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Sixty to 70% of everything we catch is in the first week of the season,” Barnett said. “That price we open up at can make or break our season. Expenses are still extremely high.”
The negotiating dance between fishers and large wholesale buyers is a familiar one. But this year’s negotiations feel more tense because they’re happening against the backdrop of COVID-19-related financial losses, a devastating fire at Fisherman’s Wharf and multiple delays to start the commercial season, fishermen said.
Several local fishers said the conflict could be resolved later this week or right after Christmas, thus allowing fresh crab to land in the Bay Area market in time for New Year’s celebrations.
“We all want crab for New Year’s. I do, too,” said Sarah Bates, who fishes out of San Francisco. “The only leverage we have is the idea of leaving the crabs in the water until we have a price. ... It’s a negotiating dance that’s less like a two-step, and more like a tango. There are a lot of steps involved.”
The disconnect in pricing between wholesalers and crabbers has reached across the Bay Bridge to fleets in the East Bay. Emeryville’s Pound the Zone Company sent an email to customers this week stating that they will not be going to Fisherman’s Wharf until the issue is resolved.
“The big boys at the wharf have declared a strike as the main wholesale buyer has taken a hard line on the price for crab,” the email reads. “They are offering a ridiculously low price that makes it impossible for the fishermen to make any money.”
Currently, San Francisco markets where customers would normally find whole Dungeness crab this time of year, including Bi-Rite Market, Seafood Center and JR Seafood Corporation, are selling only frozen crab from last season, or from Washington, for between $10.99 and $13.99 per pound.
In a productive year the Dungeness crab industry can generate as much as $95 million, according to the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. But the past five years have seen a constant stream of delays to commercial Dungeness seasons. The 2015-2016 season was delayed by the presence of domoic acid in crabs, which is a neurotoxin poisonous to humans. Last year the crabbing season was delayed several weeks because of migrating whales.
A new dilemma for local crabbers arose in May, two months after the start of the pandemic, when a massive blaze at Fisherman’s Wharf burned a storage facility on Pier 45 that had 30 tenants, including many who allowed other fishers to store gear in their designated spaces. All told, the equipment lost, including countless crab pots and ropes, was worth millions, according to local fishers.
This year the commercial season was supposed to open on Nov. 15 for the area south of the Mendocino-Sonoma county line, but migrating whales potentially being caught in fishing lines again spurred further delays.
Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
The Link LonkDecember 23, 2020 at 05:48AM
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No Dungeness crab for Christmas as Bay Area fleets negotiate for higher prices - San Francisco Chronicle
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