The predictions that local Dungeness crab won’t be available in time for Thanksgiving have come true: This year’s commercial fishing season will be delayed until at least Dec. 1 to prevent the risk of whale entanglements in fishing gear.
On Wednesday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the delay of the commercial Dungeness crab season for Central California, including San Francisco, from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1 after a large number of endangered whales were spotted in fishing zones in the past week. The delay was triggered by new rules established Nov. 1 giving the state the authority to close certain fishing areas when there is evidence of a certain number of humpback whales, blue whales or Pacific leatherback sea turtles in the area.
Blue whales spotted off the coast of big sur by Ryan Bartling, a scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Video: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
“While no one wants to delay the season, CDFW and the Working Group feel a delay is necessary to reduce the risk of entanglement,” said department director Charlton H. Bonham. “The fleet has gone to great lengths to be more nimble in order to protect whales and turtles, and the results are promising.”
The director’s decision followed a recommendation from the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, including fishermen, environmental groups and other stakeholders tasked with finding ways to prevent whale entanglements. The recreational fishing season won’t be affected and is due to open Saturday. Last year, the commercial crab season was delayed for a month for the same reason. The department will reassess the risk in mid-November and decide whether the season can open on Dec. 1 or be delayed further.
The delay affects fishing zones in the coast from Point Arena (Mendocino County) south to the Mexican border. According to recent aerial surveys and other data collected by biologists from Oct. 22 to 29, there were 50 humpback whales reported around the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco and 25 in the Monterey Bay area, which both exceed the threshold of 20 whale sightings for a delay.
Whales can be injured or die when they get caught in the lines that run between buoys at the ocean’s surface and the crab traps at the sea floor. Normally by the start of Dungeness crab season in mid-November, whales have begun their annual migration south to breeding grounds in Mexico. In recent years, they have been lingering longer along the California coast, a development related to warming ocean temperatures that have resulted in a dislocation of the fish that whales normally feed on and a record number of whale injuries and deaths in fishing gear.
This year, there have been large shoals of anchovies near shore, such as in Half Moon Bay, where scientists caught photos of a group of humpback whales feeding in late October. However, a storm predicted for the weekend could change those patterns, some fishermen said.