Dungeness crab is coming! State sets Jan. 5 season opening date
California’s long-awaited Dungeness crab season will get under way early in the new year.
Commercial crab fishers from the Mendocino County line to the Mexican border can drop their gear on Jan. 2, 2025, and start pulling up the first crab pots on Sunday, Jan. 5, the Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday afternoon.
The news came as a relief to the fishing industry and fish markets, which dealt last year with a two months’ late Jan. 18 start to the season.
“The delays have been difficult, but the commercial fishing fleet is looking forward to getting to work and delivering healthy, sustainable Dungeness crab to our communities,” said Lisa Damrosch, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.
At one of Mollie Stone’s Bay Area markets, a seafood and meat expert noted that while the first catch will come in too late for the holiday “hoopla,” he’s happy they will finally get to sell the much-sought-after California crab. “I’m excited for the customers,” he said. So far, the stores have been sourcing crab from Washington and Oregon to meet the demand.
The state’s decision comes after a series of delays since November meant to protect whales from getting tangled in fishing lines abandoned in previous seasons, and it comes with a key restriction: Fleets will have to operate under a 50 percent trap reduction.
In far Northern California (Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino counties), the season will not be allowed to start until Jan. 15 because of crab meat quality issues.
The director of the CDFW, Charlton H. Bonham, who makes decisions in consultation with representatives of the fishing industry, environmental organizations and scientists, explained the thinking:
“Making the decision on when to open the Dungeness crab fishery is never an easy one. It requires careful consideration of the need to protect endangered species while sustaining the livelihood of California’s fishing communities,” he said in a statement. “My action today strikes a balance between the needs of the fishery and the needs of California’s marine species.”
Scientist Geoff Shester of the Oceana group, one of the consultants to the state, said conservationists do want to see the crab fishery succeed. “While there still are a lot of whales out there, we are all anticipating the numbers will go down” by the first week of January, he said.
The commercial season traditionally starts Nov. 15, and the recreational season typically begins earlier than that. Since 2015, there have been delays in all but one commercial Dungeness season in the Bay Area. A toxin, domoic acid, that could sicken anyone who eats the tainted crab, destroyed Northern California’s 2015-2016 commercial season and created delays in other years.
