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The
state Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday that
commercial crabbing will be delayed until at least Dec. 1. The
situation will be reassessed on or around Nov. 15.
It’s the latest delay for the start of the commercial season,
which traditionally begins in mid-November for waters between
the Mendocino county line and the border with Mexico.
Meanwhile the recreational take of Dungeness crab using traps
will be temporarily restricted in some areas when the
recreational season opens Nov. 2, officials said. Recreational
crabbers will be able to use other methods, including hoop nets
and crab snares.
The commercial crab industry is one of California’s major
fisheries and the shellfish is especially popular around the
holidays.
Humpback whales can get caught in the vertical ropes connected
to heavy commercial traps, which they can drag around for
months, leaving them injured, starved or so exhausted that they
can drown.
Humpback whales migrate north annually from Mexico’s Baja
California peninsula, where they birth calves. In spring, summer
and fall the humpbacks feed on anchovies, sardines and krill off
the California coast before heading back south.
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