The Bay Area’s commercial Dungeness crab season can begin Jan. 5, state officials announced Friday, now that many of the migrating behemoths of the sea have safely made their way down the coast.
The decision comes after a series of delays since November meant to protect whales from getting tangled in fishing lines, and it comes with a key restriction: Fleets will have to operate under a 40 percent trap reduction.
“The trap reduction is expected to reduce entanglement risk for humpback whales by decreasing the number of vertical lines attached to traps in the water.” the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
The state’s decision — made in consultation with representatives of the fishing industry, environmental organizations and scientists — will open up commercial crabbing from the Sonoma/Mendocino county line south to the Mexican border.
Recreational crabbing will open statewide on the same day.
However, commercial crabbing in the far northern counties of Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino will be delayed until at least Jan. 15 because of the presence of a toxin, called domoic acid, found in crab samples in those waters.
Until safer pop-up gear becomes more prevalent, the state’s decision is “the right move to balance healthy fisheries and safe waters for wildlife,” Dr. Geoff Shester, a senior scientist for Oceana, said in reaction to the announcement. He added that the state will likely need to shorten the upcoming season for conventional traps, as it did this year, .
Since 2015, there have been delays in all but one commercial Dungeness season in the Bay Area, mostly because of whale entanglements. Domoic acid, which could sicken anyone who eats the tainted crab, destroyed Northern California’s 2015-2016 commercial season and created delays in other years.
Traditionally, California’s commercial season begins Nov. 15 and the recreational season earlier than that.
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