California Fish and Wildlife delays commercial crab season
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV)- Commercial Dungeness crab season has been delayed to help protect whales from entanglement.
Commercial crab season was set to open on November 15th but was delayed due to the high number of humpback whales, according to Fish and Wildlife.
The delay is causing frustration for those who rely on the commercial crab season as part of their livelihood.
“Nothing is cheap, no more. Everybody's got to work,” said Giovanni Nevoloso a longtime commercial crab fisherman. “When you don't work for one or two months, it's hard, especially for the young generation.”
Since 1977, Nevoloso been fishing in Monterey Bay. The delay in commercial Dungeness crab season leaves a feeling of uncertainty and frustration.
“We don't know when they're going to open,” said Nevoloso. “They don't know the date yet.”
Fish and Wildlife said it's normal to see humpback whales around this time of the year because the whales are out foraging.
“If there's a lot of humpbacks around and if there's a lot of fishing gear out there, that risk of entanglement increases,” said Ryan Bartling, a Senior Environmental Scientist, with Fish & Wildlife.
Recreational traps for Dungeness crab will be restricted statewide. But using hoop nets and crab snares is not affected by the temporary traps restriction and will be allowed starting Saturday. Zones impacted are from the Sonoma/Mendocino County line down.
Both Monterey and Santa Cruz County fall in Zone 4.
“Why are all these restrictions, all these things making it so difficult when it should be a little bit easy,” said Nevoloso.
Bartling said they work with fishermen, like California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, and other scientists when it comes to creating risk management actions.
CDFW anticipates its next assessment will take place on or before November 23.
Fish and Wildlife said it has not received any reports of any recent entanglements related to crabbing gear.
Back in March, the department recommended closing commercial crab season early after two humpback whales got caught in fishing gear.
