After almost ten years of waiting on the sidelines, commercial fishermen in northern California finally got the green light to return to the water for rock crab.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced the long-anticipated reopening of the commercial fishery from the California-Oregon border to the north jetty at Humboldt Bay- an area that’s been closed since 2015 due to domoic acid contamination.
The northern fishery was first shut down as a precaution during what remains the largest recorded outbreak of domoic acid on the West Coast. Emergency rulemaking went into effect, and the area stayed closed through a series of state declarations, even after the toxin levels declined, because consistent testing hadn’t been performed in subsequent years.
That started to change thanks to renewed interest from commercial fishermen, who began submitting rock crab samples from both central and northern parts of the state. Those efforts paid off: testing now shows that domoic acid levels are safely below federal thresholds in the reopened stretch.
CDFW noted that the last time the fishery saw action this far north was in May 2019, when a smaller area near Humboldt Bay was reopened. Now, the region from the California-Oregon border to Humboldt Bay entrance is officially back in business.
One stretch of coast remains closed- from the Mendocino/ Humboldt County line to Cape Mendocino- pending additional testing.
Historically, the reopened area hasn’t seen much commercial activity. In the five years leading up to the closure, just 365 pounds of rock crab were landed with a reported value of about $1000. Still, the renewed push from fishermen shows that there’s potential for a stronger future.
As the fishery gets back to it, CDFW is urging participants to keep whale entanglement risk top of mind. That means avoiding gear sets when whales are present and following best practices, like keeping vertical lines taut, reducing floating slack, and trimming excess surface lines.
