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Science

Crab Season Delayed Again to Protect Migrating Humpback Whales

The endangered whales are believed to swim closer to shore because ocean warming has brought prey closer to land, which intersects in the areas where fishermen crab.
Ezra David Romero
Crabs in a crab pot as gloved fishermen pick them out on a boat deck.
The delay could mean that crabbing crews won’t be able to work, which puts crabbing operations into jeopardy, said John Barnett, president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. (Sollina Images/Getty Images)

For the fifth year, California wildlife officials delayed commercial crab season due to migrating humpback whales.

The delay will last at least until the end of November, but last year, the season did not open until New Year’s Eve. The restrictions result from a 2017 lawsuit over keeping humpback whales out of fishing gear.

“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,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said.

Researchers believe the endangered whales swim closer to shore because ocean warming has brought prey closer to land, which intersects in the areas where fishermen crab. The whales can get caught in the lines that are linked between crab pots on the ocean floor to buoys, resulting in killing the mammals.

The state anticipates its following risk assessment will occur around Nov. 17 to see if the season can open in early December. The department postponed the season after aerial inspections counted more than 100 humpback whales.

“We will continue to work with both the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fisheries to protect whales while working to maximize fishing opportunities,” Bonham said.

The agency has also restricted recreational Dungeness crab fishing between the Sonoma/Mendocino County line and Lopez Point in Monterey County until Nov. 4. In the area around the Bay Area, sport crabbers will only be able to use hoop nets and crab snares.

Environmental groups applauded the decision to protect the endangered species and said the state could go even further to protect the swimming mammals.

“State officials made the right decision by delaying the Dungeness crab season opening since there are still lots of humpback whales in the water,” said Ben Grundy, oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We could avoid entanglement risks to whales and prevent these delays altogether if the state authorized pop-up fishing gear for commercial use. Pop-up gear gets countless fishing lines out of the water and is the best way to protect marine life and allow crab fishing to proceed safely.”

For crabbers, the delay could mean that crabbing crews won’t be able to work, which puts crabbing operations into jeopardy, said John Barnett, president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association.

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“It definitely affects my ability to work because the weather gets rougher, and if you don’t know when you’re going to go fishing, your crew eventually will leave,” he said. “A couple of years ago, my crew bailed on me. It’s a difficult position to be in.”

This year’s delay means the crabs people buy in California will likely be frozen by distributors or from out of state.

“The Thanksgiving market is crucial to distributing crabs,” Barnett said. “It is considered a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition, but they might not be California fresh crabs.”

His more significant concern is that if the state further delays the season, supply will be low along the entire West Coast, and prices could rise.

“They aren’t catching enough up there (from out of state, in places like Washington) to supply the country, let alone the whole West Coast,” he said. “It’s a tough, tricky situation we’re going through right now.”

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