Commercial fishing for Dungeness crab, a centerpiece of Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in Northern California, will be delayed until at least around the New Year, state officials said Friday.
The delay is intended to give endangered whales and turtles time to migrate out of state waters and avoid entanglement with fishing gear, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced in a press release.
“The commercial Dungeness crab fishery will be delayed in all Fishing Zones due to numerous reported entanglements this year, high abundance of humpback whales, and presence of leatherback sea turtles,” the department said.
The delay was supported by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, the largest commercial fishing trade association on the West Coast.
“Another year of a delayed commercial Dungeness crab season is incredibly difficult for our fleet and port communities,” said Lisa Damrosch, executive director of the Fierman’s Association, in the press release. “However, given the current risk assessment process, the commercial fleet supported this outcome as the most practical path forward.”
The next risk assessment will take place in mid-December with an eye toward a possible opening of the commercial fishery around the New Year, the department said.
“Commercial Dungeness crab fishing would be too much of a threat to the whales and sea turtles off our coast right now, so delaying the season is the right move,” said Ben Grundy, oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Entanglements have risen as the whales and turtles have been forced to adapt to a growing Pacific marine heat wave, Grundy said.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife also restricted the recreational Dungeness crab season from the California/Oregon border south to the Sonoma/Mendocino County line due to unhealthy levels of domoic acid.
At low levels, the acid, a neurotoxin produced by algae, can cause nausea, diarrhea and dizziness in humans. At higher levels, it can cause memory loss, seizures and death, according to the department.
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