January 17, 2019 — Woe is the crab lover: More of California’s north coast opened to commercial crab fishing Tuesday, but stormy waters and a shellfish toxin still are limiting the haul and putting a further crimp on the season for the tasty crustaceans.
“It’s not easy to be a crab fisherman in California this year,” said Noah Oppenheim, director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “But they’ll soldier on.”
Crab lovers had hoped for relief this season after several frustrating winters of on-again-off-again crab catching along the California coast. The crab fishery was valued at $67.5 million last season.
Crab fishers began hauling up the tasty crustaceans along the Central Coast south of Mendocino County when the commercial season began in mid-November.
But state authorities kept the fishery north of Sonoma County off limits until Tuesday — the latest date allowed by law — because crabs there were coming in lean and considered not ready for market.