California Dungeness crab season delayed again this year to protect whales

In what seems to be the new norm, California Fish and Wildlife officials Friday postponed the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season for the sixth successive year.

The decision, made due to the high numbers of federally endangered humpback whales foraging in fishing grounds between Monterey and Point Arena, just north of Sonoma County, means commercial crabbing boats will not leave docks until at least Dec. 1 — well after Thanksgiving, when Dungeness crab has often made its debut on North Coast dining tables.

The actual start date will be determined in part by a risk assessment conducted Nov. 17.

Recreational crabbers who begin heading out Nov. 4, when the sport season begins, will be restricted from using traditional traps, under the state order. Sports fishers still can use hoop nets and crab snares to catch the delectable crustaceans.

The commercial season hasn’t begun on its traditional start date of Nov. 15 since 2017, thanks to rising concerns and evolving regulations designed to safeguard protected whales, as well as vulnerable leatherback sea turtles, from becoming ensnared in crabbing gear. It often has ended early, as well, for the same reason.

But the delay of the season start this year represents a particular challenge for the local commercial fleet, given the closure of the salmon season, which was shut completely last spring, in the face of decimated fish stocks.

A prompt start for crab and the opportunity to bring in some cash from the lucrative Thanksgiving market might have helped offset their losses.

“There are people in a world of hurt and who are trying to make it work, and it’s not easy for them,” said veteran fisherman Dick Ogg, president of the Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Marketing Association. “It’s just a tough time. We’re all really struggling.”

Fresh Dungeness crab and king salmon are iconic North Coast specialties and have long supported fishing ports up and down Northern and Central California, drawing tens of millions of dollars into coastal communities.

But recent decades have seen drastic declines in Pacific salmon stocks. The commercial crab fishery — always subject to natural cycles in any case — has been buffeted primarily by restrictions imposed since 2017 to reduce impacts on marine animals listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Whales, sea turtles and other marine mammals can become entangled in the vertical lines connecting crab pots on the ocean floor with surface buoys used to mark them. But those species that are federally listed create a particular concern.

After the state was sued in 2017 by the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, following a spike in protected whale entanglements, state Fish and Wildlife moved to obtain a federal permit governing management of the Dungeness crab fishery. In the meanwhile, it began operating under provisions in the lawsuit settlement before launching newly developed protocols for monthly risk assessments and responses.

The new rules, formally launched in 2020, include specific thresholds for entanglements and whale abundance that automatically trigger state action.

The most recent aerial and vessel surveys found as many as 89 protected humpback whales at a time in the fishing zone between Mendocino County and Half Moon Bay, according to a declaration signed by California Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham on Friday. Surveys also found high numbers in the zone that includes Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay.

In addition, three new entanglements of humpback whales in confirmed California crab gear were reported in June, July and August, according to the most recent risk assessment data. Two others, both reported in April, involved unidentified gear.

Thus, the agency had no choice but to keep the vertical lines used to set crab traps out of the ocean, given recent entanglements attributed to the fishery and surveys revealing high concentrations of feeding humpbacks.

“Large aggregations of humpback whales continue to forage between Bodega Bay and Monterey, and allowing the use of crab traps would increase the risk of an entanglement in those fishing zones,” Bonham said in news release. “We will continue to work with both the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fisheries to protect whales while working to maximize fishing opportunity.

“The numbers have been way above the legal and biological thresholds for this endangered population,” said Geoff Shester, California Campaign Director for Oceana. “We have gone a long way and undoubtedly have prevented a lot of entanglements that otherwise would have happened, but we need to do more.”

“It’s going to be a tight year, and I think we’re all kind of coming to terms with the fact that we’re in a new reality, that this isn’t just a temporary blip,” Shester said. “ … The days of seeing fresh crab caught with vertical lines for the holidays — we’re probably not going back to that any time soon.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter/X @MaryCallahanB.