Although Oregon’s crab season has been delayed indefinitely, many Brookings commercial fishermen on Tuesday continued preparing for the start of the season — whenever that may be.
The season — which traditionally begins Dec. 1 — has been postponed due to elevated levels of the shellfish toxin Domoic acid found in crab off the coast of Garibaldi, a northern Oregon port.
However, the season will open Thursday in and around Crescent City.
“Some boats are fishing in California,” Brookings fisherman Willy Goergen, captain of the Catalyst fishing vessel, said Tuesday. “My crew’s on the gear pile, switching out pots and changing tags over, ropes — we’re going to have to fish a different area than we anticipated.”
The California crab season is limited to the ocean from Crescent City to just north of Eureka. Some Brookings fishermen — those who have California permits — will go fishing over the border, but others will wait until the Oregon season opens.
