December 15, 2020 — Dungeness crabs are a holiday tradition every year on tables across Northern California. But the prized crustaceans also are a prime delicacy for other local residents — sea otters that live along the Central Coast.
Scientists are studying whether to relocate sea otters north into San Francisco Bay to help expand their population back to its historic range. But fishermen have been wary, concerned that the otters could reduce the number of Dungeness crabs, a $51 million industry, and one of California’s largest commercial fisheries.
Now a new study suggests the two beloved ocean luminaries may be able to co-exist. In a paper published Thursday, researchers from Duke University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the U.S. Geological Survey found that as the number of sea otters has grown off central California in recent decades, the catch of Dungeness crabs by fishermen in Half Moon Bay, Monterey and Morro Bay actually also has gone up, not down.
The study could increase the chances that otters will be reintroduced into San Francisco Bay nearly 200 years after they were last seen there, or to other places north of the Golden Gate Bridge.