Paltry haul

The Dungeness crab season is barely under way and runs for another six months, but Bodega Bay fishermen say it is so bad most have already given up and put their gear away.

"We went out Tuesday and we decided we are quitting, it just doesn't pencil out, even though the price has gone up," said Chuck Wise, a Bodega Bay fisherman.

Dick Ogg of Bodega Bay caught just 35 crab in the 70 pots he brought in last week. Since he's semi-retired, Ogg said he can continue to go out, but he too knows there isn't much out there.

"It is not a result of any environmental thing, it is just cyclical, we are just at the end of the cycle," Ogg said. "There are a tremendous amount of small crabs, as many as I can ever remember seeing, and the amount of females bearing eggs is tremendous. It shows signs of a very healthy fishery, but it is the end of a cycle."

During the first two weeks of the season, which opened Nov. 15, 300,000 pounds of crab valued at $900,000 were landed from Bodega Bay to Half Moon Bay, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

Last year, the season opening was delayed by the oil spill in San Francisco Bay. In the first two weeks of the season in 2006, 3.4 million pounds valued at $6.3 million were taken.

Fishermen are reporting finding a lot of small crabs, which are two to three years away from being big enough to harvest legally, and that bodes well for the future.

"It's cyclical fishery; historically it goes up and down," said Pete Kalvass, a Fish and Game fisheries biologist in Fort Bragg. "It looks like this is the bottom of the trough."

Rick Harris, general manager of Pacific Choice Seafoods in Eureka, one of the largest processors, said it was not unexpected.

"The California Dungeness crab season goes to rock bottom and then shoots to record highs three years later," Harris said.

The shortage is being felt on the docks, where crab last week was fetching up to $3.50 a pound, a $1.50 increase. In stores, the holiday price of crab jumped $3 a pound to $6.99, said Michael Lucas, president of North Coast Fisheries in Santa Rosa.

"Christmastime got tight, but it always does," Lucas said. "We fairly well met the demand. We didn't run out of crab. Then we had a big storm that brought the swells up to 25 feet and pushed everyone off the water. There hasn't been any crab; they are just starting to come in now."

The Dungeness crab season in Northern California opens Nov. 15 and runs through June 15. It opens Dec. 1 in Oregon.

The state relies on individual boats to submit catch numbers, and has only compiled the first two weeks of the season.

So far, the catch is averaging 600 pounds per boat, compared to 1,800 pounds per boat in 2006, Kalvass said.

Last year, North Coast and San Francisco crab boats brought in 3.4 million pounds, compared to 5.7 million pounds in the 2006-07 season, according to Fish and Game.

Wise's is one of 50 Bodega Bay boats that fish for crab, which Wise has done for 30 years. This year, he has landed about 6,000 pounds, far short of the 80,000 pounds he would expect.

"I have been fishing crab a number of years and I have never seen it this bad," he said.

Dungeness crab have to be 6.25 inches tip-to-tip on the shell to be legal. They are caught in pots, with fishermen using squid, razor clams, mackerel and sardines as bait.

Wise said there may still be a half-dozen boats in Bodega Bay still going out for crab, but the value of the catch does not offset the cost of fuel and bait.

Harris said the crab fishery gets better closer to Oregon.

"In Oregon, the plants are doing normal landings there, to date 7.3 million pounds in 26 days of the season -- not a huge year, but it may fall in just under average," Harris said.

The lowest catch in California was in 1973-74, when it was 880,000 pounds statewide, Harris said. It bounced back to 27 million pounds three years later.

"Overall, California will do better than that," said Harris, referring to the 1973-74 season. "It certainly doesn't look good, it is one of the slowest seasons we have seen in 30 years. Again, it is still December and there may still be a bite. We must be optimistic."

You can reach Staff Writer

Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.