The long-delayed commercial Dungeness crab season in the San Francisco Bay Area was expected to open by today. Still, due to unsafe weather conditions and an unresolved pricing dispute, boats are staying tied to the dock.
High winds and rough seas off the coast forced fishermen to delay setting their crab pots, which were initially scheduled for Friday. “We’re not going to drop until, at the earliest, probably Monday or Tuesday,” commercial crab fishermen Jonathan Tin told CBS News. He said strong winds and large swells made it unsafe to head offshore.
“We waited for a month and a half, what’s a couple of more days?” Tin said. “At least, if the weather gets nice, we can go out and do it safely. We don’t have to risk our lives doing a job that’s already really dangerous.”
In addition to the weather concerns, Bay Area fishermen are holding out for high prices. John Barnett, president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association, said fishermen are seeking an additional 50 to 75 cents per pound from fish markets and wholesale buyers. Until an agreement is reached, Barnett said boats will remain in port, CBS reported.
“It’s not expected to be a tremendous amount of crabs out here,” Barnett said. “So we want to get the most money that we can for them and make this a season, especially without our salmon season the last few years. Three years in a row, we have not had a salmon season for commercial fishing,” he told CBS.
Fishermen are also contending with reduced gear limits this season. State regulations cap effort at 60 percent of allowable crab pots. “We have a 350-pot permit,” Tin shared. “So 60 percent of that is 210.”
The season’s delay- from November to January due to whale migration- has already cut into the most lucrative holiday market. “Not starting in November was really hard for us because we missed out on the holiday price with Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Tin said.
For now, most Dungeness crab sold in Bay Area markets and restaurants is coming from Oregon and Washington. Restaurant operators told CBS that demand increases when local crab becomes available. “When it is local Dungeness crab season, and we can offer local crabs, we tend to see an increase in crab sales,” shared Bob Patrite of Crab House.
Both fishermen and buyers hoped to resolve the pricing dispute by today. And if weather conditions improve, boats could head out as early as Tuesday and return with fresh crab by Wednesday of this week.
