The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department) is providing updated information on how it plans to approach the opening of the California commercial Dungeness crab fishery that has been delayed due to persistent high levels of domoic acid.  Informed by extensive feedback from affected stakeholders and the Dungeness Crab Task Force Executive Committee, the Department will work toward either a statewide opener or a partial opener based on traditional management boundaries, whichever can be implemented sooner based on test results.

The Department will continue to work closely with the California Department of Public Health and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to monitor domoic acid levels in Dungeness crab. The Department anticipates opening the commercial fishery seven days after the entire state, or traditional management area, is cleared by the health agencies.

The Department is committed to working closely with the industry to open the commercial Dungeness crab fishery. The Department greatly appreciates the constructive input that has been provided by all affected parties during this unprecedented closure to help inform management actions.

A downloadable version of this announcement will be available on the DCTF webpage: http://www.opc.ca.gov/2009/04/dungeness-crab-task-force/ (under the header “Domoic acid update”)