Tag Archives: Dungeness crab
Following a 6 month delay, Dungeness crab catch plummets on North Coast
While the first few days of Humboldt County’s six-month-late Dungeness crab season had some good hauls, the catch has dropped to the point that some crabbers are already packing away their gear, according to local industry sources. “I’ve never seen it go down this fast,” Wild Planet Foods Eureka plant manager Jeff Huffman said Tuesday, “though we’ve never had a season start this late. Usually we’re locking the doors at this point.” But some crabbers are faring better than others since the North Coast commercial Dungeness crab season opened on May 12. Jubal Hall of the “My Lady” crabbing vessel said he will continue crabbing as long as they can, and described the catch so far as “decent, but not great.” Read the story here 08:21
Trinidad crab tests to determine commercial opener
The long-awaited opener of the commercial crab season on the North Coast now hinges on six crabs collected just south of Trinidad Head. If the crabs don’t show high levels of a neurotoxin, which has delayed the state’s crab season since Dec. 1, the commercial season could start as soon as May 5, according to Department of Fish and Wildlife senior environmental scientist Pete Kalvass. “That’s holding everything up,” Kalvass said of the Trinidad crab. “… If those six crabs show up clean, we could declare the entire area clear and then open up sport fishing up in that region and commercial (fishing) a week later.” Meanwhile, state officials are gearing up to hear an update on Thursday regarding Gov. Jerry Brown’s request for federal fisheries disaster relief funds and how the state is preparing for future incidents. Read the rest here 07:46
Locally caught Dungeness crab on sale, offering Bay Area fishermen some relief
Last week’s opening of the put fresh, local Dungeness in stores once again and got lots of Bay Area commercial fishermen back out on the ocean. Neither circumstance is expected to last much longer than a few more weeks, with winter long gone and the crab catch thus far below what it typically would be at the start of the season, according to industry veterans. “We’re not setting the world on fire,” fourth-generation fisherman Tony Anello said, “but we’re doing OK.” Read the article here 10:41
Dungeness crab finally arrives at SF docks
Seaworn crabbers began hitting the docks at Fisherman’s Wharf on Wednesday evening, their boats crawling with spindly hard-shelled Dungeness doomed to a future going down the gullets of hungry seafood lovers. But, judging by the first haul, crab season could be shortened dramatically by slim pickings. The first batch of crab in the long-delayed commercial season was brought in mostly by small boats — the big ones aren’t expected back until Thursday night — but seafood companies were eager to buy the tasty crustaceans. Video, Read the story here 08:00
A “Shotgun Start”: Bay Area crab fisherman race out to sea
Commercial fishermen raced to their boats and headed out to sea to catch Dungeness crab Tuesday after a few caught Saturday and tested over the weekend passed a quality test. Fresh crab should reach markets by Thursday, according to one major processor in San Francisco. “It was a shotgun start,” said Larry Collins, president of the Crab Boat Owners Association in San Francisco. “We ran out of the hall and jumped on the boats once we got the price.” Crabs that were caught Saturday were tested yesterday for quality on Monday. Read the rest here 16:07
Price, and not crab, on the table: Buyers, commercial fishermen discussing rates
Crab pots were set off the coast of Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay Friday and will be offered to buyers seeking to determine how much meat the crustaceans will yield, said Jim Anderson, a crabber and member of the state’s Dungeness Crab Task Force. With forecasts predicting poor ocean conditions for this weekend’s kickoff to an abnormally short season, Anderson said the annual process of determining how meaty the crab are isn’t expected to set fishermen back too far. “On Monday they’ll have an understanding of what the crab looks like and then set the price. Then sometime shortly thereafter we’ll go fishing,” Anderson said. “We always do this to give them some kind of idea of what the value of the crab is. We waited this long, we surely don’t want to go harvest bad crab for the consumer.” Read the article here 08:45
Bay Area crab fishermen prepare for Saturday’s long overdue season opener
The crab pots were piled eight high along the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor dock Wednesday afternoon as Dungeness crab fisherman loaded boats in preparation for Saturday’s long overdue commercial crab fishery opener. After a five-month delay due to the presence of domoic acid, a potentially deadly neurotoxin that had been found in crabs, state health officials determined the crabs “no longer pose a significant human health risk.” Some have decided it’s not worth the effort this late in the season. As others loaded crab pots onto boats in the Santa Cruz Harbor, longtime crab fisherman Stan Bruno of Santa Cruz was packing up his gear to store it for the summer. Read the rest here 08:26
The Pirates of Bodega Bay – Crab Fleet still testing crabs with Domoic Acid
A little-known fact is, Pirates in the 17th and 18th Centuries created one of the first democracies, voting for their captains and quartermasters, and voting them out if things didn’t work out. They weren’t made to walk the plank afterwards, they were merely demoted to the rank of members of the crew. Amazingly these high ideals are still held today, at least by the commercial fishing fleet in Bodega Bay. On Feb. 15, a hearty battle broke out (only verbal) among the fishermen who have recently seen their world fall apart with the dispute over tainted crab. It was somewhat like a manly square dance with captains and crew changing sides frequently but in the end, they all came to an agreement. Lots of info, Read the article here 09:20
Video – California Commercial Dungeness Crab Season Could Start Next Week
State officials opened the central coast of California to recreational Dungeness crab season on Thursday and commercial season could open as soon as late next week, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said. Some state fishermen have said they want to wait until the whole state tests clean before commercial season opens. The California Dungeness Crab Task Force may make a decision on whether to open commercial crab fishing on Tuesday during a conference call to discuss the matter. Video Read the rest here 16:10
Commercial Crabber Fined for Overfishing
California wants a Washington state seafood company fined for the nearly two tons of dead Dungeness crabs it had to dump from a 17-ton haul: far more “dead loss” than can lawfully be taken even with a permit. A California Fish and Wildlife warden found defendant Pacific Dream’s commercial fishing boat, the Renard unloading crab caught in or around Half Moon Bay on Nov. 23, 2014. The captain showed a Dungeness Crab Vessel Permit and acknowledged the dead crabs came from his ship. The warden found 3,850 lbs. of dead crabs and 31,436 lbs. of live crabs. Read the rest here 12:39
Oregon – Crabs safe after toxin scare; prices fall
A toxic algae bloom that shut down the West Coast’s entire shellfish industry may actually be good news for crab lovers, according to some crabbers. The price for crabs has plummeted because people are hesitant to buy them after the highly publicized toxin scare, reported The Oregonian. But the creatures are safe to eat. “The consumer is going to get a far superior product,” said John Corbin, head of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. “They’re going to get a great, stuffed-full crab right now.” Read the article here 18:44
Oregon and Washington – Crab quality, quantity, prices all good
It’s only a few days into this year’s commercial Dungeness crab season and fishermen already believe they are looking at a better run than last year. Dan Ayres, coastal shellfish manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, won’t have initial landing numbers for another week or so but, he said, “The word we’re getting from the fleet is that it looks better than last year.” After getting the all-clear from state health departments, commercial Dungeness crab fishermen finally hit the water Jan. 4 after being delayed for weeks due to elevated levels of the marine toxin domoic acid. Read the article here 19:04
Getting Close! California’s Dungeness crab season still not ready to begin
“I don’t know when we will reopen,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton Bonham told a legislative committee in Santa Rosa. “You deserve honesty.” Tests by the California Department of Public Health show levels of domoic acid, a biotoxin that has tainted this year’s crabs, have declined to safe levels from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. But it will take another round of clean tests for Fish and Wildlife to consider opening the commercial crab season in those areas, and levels of domoic acid remain high in northern counties from Sonoma to the Oregon border. Read the article here 07:43
Tests show progress toward lifting of Dungeness closure
Sport-crabbers could be back on South Coast bays in less than two weeks, and the state’s commercial crabbing fleet is eyeing a Dec. 15 opener after new tests on Dungeness crab show that levels of domoic acid that closed the fisheries are now falling, authorities said. But all eyes are on Monday’s results of Dungeness samples taken last weekend for Brookings and Port Orford to see whether they mirror crab in Coos and Winchester bays as dropping beneath health-alert levels or whether they join Northern California ports still seeing potentially unhealthy levels. Read the article here 07:11
Prospects unclear in ‘crab country’; state committee to discuss delay’s impacts
Being the sole proprietor of his commercial fishing operation for the last three years, Eureka resident Bob Borck said one of the important skills of the job is being able to live with uncertainty. While he’s seen delays in the Dungeness crab season caused by price disputes or meat quantity requirements, Borck said the indefinite delay caused by the presence of a potent neurotoxin along the entire West Coast is making the prospects of this season unclear. “We’ve never been here before,” he said. “There is no real way to tell.” What Borck does know is that he still needs to pay the bills — not only for moorage and insurance for his fishing vessel,.. Read the article here 08:34
Members of Congress urge disaster relief for Dungeness crab fishermen
In a bit of good news for California’s beleaguered crab fishermen, four members of Congress announced Tuesday they would call for federal disaster relief in the unlikely event the state’s commercial fishing season for Dungeness crab is canceled altogether.In a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, the representatives urged the governor to “stand ready” to ask to provide compensation to fishermen and businesses if the crab season — postponed indefinitely Nov. 6 because of high levels of a biotoxin called domoic acid,,, Read the rest here 06:39
Toxin Levels Dropping in California Crabs
Seafood lovers and California’s commercial fishermen received good news Thursday as tests revealed dropping levels of the dangerous neurotoxin that has temporarily delayed the state’s crab season. Dungeness crab caught and surveyed from the San Francisco Bay, Half Moon Bay and Morro Bay were found to have safe levels for domoic acid, according to test results from the California Department of Public Health. Read the article here 15:32
For Lummis, fishing is more than a living — it’s a way of life
Members of Lummi Nation say that for them, fishing is different. Tribal and nontribal fishers alike must keep to the seasons and mind their catch quotas. Still, for most Washington residents, fishing is a privilege granted by the state government, said Jay Julius, a Lummi member who has a seat on the tribe’s council. The tribe, on the other hand, has been fishing for 150 generations, Julius said. “To us, culture is fish and fish is culture,” he said. “It’s more than a privilege, it’s who we are. “It’s in our DNA.” Read the rest here 13:24
Dungeness crab season delays hit Santa Cruz fishermen hard
Crab fishermen were busy scraping last year’s crust of debris from marker buoys, replacing ID tags on old crab pots and getting new pots ready last week in preparation for the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season, despite uncertainty over when it will begin. “We have to get ready as if nothing’s changed,” said fisherman Will Collins. “And just stand by until it’s ready to go.” “I don’t see it opening till the first of the year,” said Stan Bruno, commercial fisherman and captain of The Grinder, based in Santa Cruz. “The levels are that high.” Read the rest here 11:56
Dungeness crab: Toxic algae could delay Northern California season
Bay Area fishermen are worried that the Dungeness crab season could be delayed by high levels of a naturally occurring toxin that’s harmful to humans. Don Marshall, a fishermen out of Pillar Point Harbor in San Mateo County, said the Northern California fleet is worried that the commercial season, slated to open Nov. 15 in time for Thanksgiving, could be delayed for weeks and even months. The Nov. 7 opening of the recreational season could also be pushed back. “If we lose the Thanksgiving market and the holiday market, that’s a crusher for us,” Read the rest here 21:28
Algae Bloom Is Toxic For Washington Crabbers’ Bottom Lines
Tom Petersen’s 50-foot crab boat sits idly in the Port of Willapa Harbor, a tiny coastal inlet 40 or so miles north of the mouth of the Columbia River. On a normal early-summer day, Petersen would be selling Dungeness crab to canneries, big-city buyers and even fresh off the back of his boat to locals and tourists. And he’d be making good money doing it. With crab selling at up to $10 per pound, Petersen could be making thousands of dollars a day. But for the past few weeks, Petersen and all the other commercial crabbers who fish,,, Read the rest here 06:35
Dungeness crab season opens strong in Southeastern Alaska
Dungeness crab season is now open, and fishermen are flocking to the sea earlier. This time last year, there were 151 permits registered, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Petersburg Shellfish Biologist Joe Stratman said. The 2014-15 season ended with 192 permit holders. This year, there are already 193 permits registered, he added. “We have an increase in effort this year,” Stratman said. And the results of last year’s season may be a contributor, he added. Read the rest here 20:28
Crab prices spike to $9 a pound in advance of Chinese New Year
As the Dungeness crab season reached the end of its peak this month, commercial crab fishermen saw a massive increase in what processors paid per pound. In Oregon and Washington, fishermen reported they were getting about $9 per pound. Some heard rumors that this could skyrocket to $11 right before Valentine’s Day. The season started in December at a negotiated price of $3.10 per pound, which later rose to $3.50 per pound, an increase over last year when fishermen saw prices of $2.62 per pound at the start of the season. By Christmas, fishermen were getting close to $4.50 a pound. Read the rest here 12:16
Shell-Shocked
Bay Area residents could enjoy Dungeness crab for half the year, if it weren’t for big businesses squeezing out local fishermen and shipping much of the crab elsewhere. I was here to fish — for Dungeness crab with a small-boat operator who supplies crab for East Bay markets and eateries. The harbor was lined with row after row of commercial fishing boats with names that were, variously, punny and sweetly earnest: Lost Claws. Lulu. The Out Cast. Pro Fishin’t. Stacy Jeanne. Read the rest here 14:01
Big ocean waves give Dungeness Crab Christmas vacation
Like those heady days when salmon are coming in on joyful and full boats, crab season can enliven Noyo Harbor with motion, aromas and noise. And then take it all away, leaving the place silent and with only the faint aroma of the sea. That was the crabby up and downs of the past two weeks. Unlike the salmon, the gyrations of the crab population are not surprising or signs of doom. Biologists predict choppy cycles in crab numbers, even if they don’t entirely understand the causes of them. Read the rest here 09:27
First Dungeness crab loads reach Marin docks
The first commercially fished Dungeness crab arrived on Marin docks Saturday, much to the delight of shellfish lovers amped to crack open some shells. Western Boat & Tackle in San Rafael got an early load on Saturday that had customers clawing at the store’s seafood counter all afternoon. Read the rest here 15:46
Crab season: ‘It’s strange for them to be so full at the first of the season’
CHARLESTON, Ore. — With Dungeness crab season now in full swing, commercial fishermen are flooding Oregon’s coastal ports with thousand of pounds of crab. Scott Adams, plant manager for Hallmark Fisheries, said they have a use for every crab in the multiple catches a boat may make each day. If a crab is not up to par the meat is picked out in a labor-intensive process called backing. The crab is cooked then put on ice to be shipped out. Adams said the labor and the price of crab make it an extremely expensive (yet popular) product of the sea. [email protected] 10:07
“The crab are out there, but you have to work this year. This year, experience is going to pay,” – The Coos Bay World: Expect Great Crab, OK Season
A commercial crab fishing season that was delayed for two weeks is drawing mixed reviews in the opening days. The quality of crab is great, experts say, but for fishermen and processors the season may be just average. [email protected] 19:30
Oregon Commercial Dungeness crab season delayed
NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Fish and Wildlife officials say the commercial Dungeness crab season on the Oregon coast will be delayed through at least Dec. 15 to allow the crabs to fill with meat. [email protected] 11:14
Sport crab fishers have slow start on Monterey Bay – Commercial crabbers gearing up for Nov 15 start
“Crab populations are doing well across the state,” said Pete Kalvass, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We look at what has happened historically.” Last season’s commercial catch was the highest on record since 1915, when it was 1.1 million pounds, Kalvass said. Based on the two previous seasons that had good catches, the department estimates this year will be similar. more@montereyherald 12:03
