Months behind schedule after California’s annual nearly $90 million Dungeness crabbing industry was shuttered this year, commercial fishermen are anxiously preparing for the season to open this weekend after state officials announced the delectable crustaceans are finally safe to eat.
Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay is again a flurry of action with captains and their crews gearing up to reel in the year’s first commercially-caught crab as early as Saturday morning.
Fish and wildlife officials announced the season would finally open south of the Mendocino-Sonoma County line since tests have shown the popular Dungeness crabs are no longer tainted by unsafe levels of domoic acid — a neurotoxin linked to a large algae bloom exacerbated by warmer waters.
Despite the biggest Thanksgiving and New Year’s markets having already passed since the season failed to kick off in November, many are hungry for a piece of this year’s catch.
