Dungeness crab season delayed by new California rules protecting whales, sea turtles
The opening of crab season is being delayed in parts of California, with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife this week announcing restrictions on recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fishing due to risks to humpback whales and leatherback sea turtles.
The recreational Dungeness crab season had been set to open statewide this coming Saturday, and the commercial season on Nov. 15 for areas south of the Sonoma-Mendocino county line.
However, the use of crab traps will be prohibited until further notice in state Fishing Zones 3 and 4, which run from the Sonoma-Mendocino county line to Lopez Point in Monterey County — effectively barring crab traps across the entire Bay Area.
Fishing Zones 5 and 6, south of Lopez Point, remain set to open for recreational trapping beginning Saturday and commercial trapping beginning Nov. 15. Zones 1 and 2, north of the Sonoma-Mendocino line up through the Oregon board, are not set to open for commercial fishing until Dec. 1.
“Recreational take of Dungeness crab by other methods, including hoop nets and crab snares, is not affected by the temporary trap restriction and is allowed statewide beginning November 6, 2021,” the Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a Monday news release.
“This is the first time the recreational Dungeness crab fishery is subject to similar measures as commercial crabbers to help protect whales and sea turtles,” Charlton H. Bonham, director of Fish and Wildlife, said in a prepared statement.
The measures were deemed necessary after aerial, sea-vessel and satellite-based surveys discovered “aggregations of humpback whales and several leatherback sea turtles still present within Fishing Zones 3 and 4.” This discovery triggered trapping restrictions, under new regulations formalized in 2020.
The department says it expects its next evaluation by Nov. 22.
Crab fishing industry responds
The California Coast Crab Association, a nonprofit made up of crab boat owners, captains and Dungeness crab buyers, in a statement Tuesday called the new regulations “onerous” and said they “could economically devastate our coastal communities that rely on the fishing and seafood industries.”
The association argues that the Bay Area crab fishing industry has already taken its own proactive measures to reduce interactions and “today poses no threat to whales or leatherback turtles.”
“The RAMP (Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program) rules include provisions which will make it unlikely for the Bay Area tradition of Thanksgiving holiday crab to be available on any given year, as the presence of even a few whales spotted in Central California will prevent the season from opening before December,” Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association, said in the statement.
“Essentially the state has ignored the advice of the people who know the ocean best.”
