Saving Seafood

Gear lending library helps Dungeness crabbers go ropeless

February 19, 2026 — California Fish and Wildlife’s Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP) is working to reduce marine mammal entanglements and is allowing fishermen willing to use ropeless gear a chance to keep fishing in areas where whales congregate after April 1.

Getting fishermen to try new things, particularly very expensive things, has never been easy, but the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation has been making strides in convincing Dungeness crab fishermen to try pop-up gear through its Innovative Gear Lending Library. “We’ve been working with fishermen experimenting with different systems since 2021, but most testing didn’t really get going until we were issued an EFP in 2023.” says gear innovations manager, Greg Wells. “We started with a grant from the California government’s Ocean Protection Council that allowed us to buy some of these systems,” says Wells. “Our job has been to support testing while reducing the financial burden on fishermen and gathering data and feedback.”

Read the full article at National Fisherman

CALIFORNIA: Humboldt County crab season begins after delay, but whale entanglement could cut it short

February 17, 2026 — Commercial Dungeness crab fishermen off the Humboldt County coast are finally entering the first couple of weeks of the season after a delay pushed the start into January. The delay was tied to high levels of domoic acid, after problems were identified during preseason testing back in September in Northern California.

“We started to see a domoic acid problem during our pre-season testing in Northern California as early as late September. It impacted the recreational fishery, which began on November 1st,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Environmental Scientist Christy Juhasz.

Read the full article at KRCR

CALIFORNIA: California approves pop-up gear as “alternative gear” for commercial crabbers

February 9, 2026 — Commercial crabbers in California’s Dungeness crab fishery can now use pop-up, or ropeless, gear to continue fishing, even after a fishing area is closed.

“Pop-up gear gives us fishermen the ability to harvest Dungeness crab for the public while the whales and turtles are present,” said Stephen Melz, a commercial Dungeness crab fisher who helped test pop-up gear in the state’s fishery last year. “It is an amazing way that technology and the spirit of innovation have come together to bring back fishing opportunity!”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Crab prices may rise during the holidays due to delayed season

December 18, 2025 — Delays in California’s Dungeness crab season are continuing to impact Humboldt County and other parts of Northern California as state wildlife officials conduct safety testing for domoic acid, a naturally occurring toxin that can accumulate in shellfish.

While much of Humboldt County remains closed to crabbing, the ripple effects of the delay are already being felt across the state. With local crab limited or unavailable in several regions, seafood markets are turning to out-of-state supply, driving prices higher during what is typically one of the busiest times of year.

The delays stem from elevated levels of domoic acid detected during preseason testing conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Domoic acid is a neurotoxin produced by certain types of marine algae and can build up in shellfish under specific ocean conditions.

“Domoic acid is produced by a naturally occurring single-celled marine alga,” said Christy Juhasz, a senior environmental scientist specialist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Region. “Under certain ocean conditions, that alga can proliferate and release this toxin into the water.”

Read the full article at KRCR

CALIFORNIA: New generation of San Francisco crab fishermen await upcoming Dungeness season

November 25, 2025 — Bay Area commercial crab fishermen are waiting for another assessment in December to get a better idea of when they’ll get the green light to harvest Dungeness crab.

Years of shortened seasons have led many to leave the industry. But that’s not stopping some younger generation fishermen.

Just one fishing boat is docked at Pier 45 in San Francisco, with its crew unloading their catch.

It will be another late night for Jonathan Tin and best friend Hunter Nguyen. They haven’t slept much lately, with most of their days and nights at sea.

“We just love it. There’s nothing else like it, going out there,” said Tin.

Read the full article at CBS News

CALIFORNIA: Recreational crab season opens along the Sonoma Coast as state warns of biotoxin risk

November 3, 2025 — There’s a catch to this year’s crab season and it’s not just in the traps.

The recreational Dungeness crab season opened Saturday along the Sonoma Coast, but state officials are warning fishers about potentially dangerous levels of domoic acid in the crabs’ internal organs.

In a health advisory issued Oct. 24, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Department of Public Health said unhealthy levels of the naturally occurring toxin have been found in the viscera, or the internal organs of the crab. Officials warned that cooking the crab does not destroy the toxin, advising fishers to not ingest any part of the viscera.

Domoic acid poisoning in humans can cause nausea, dizziness and in severe cases, even memory loss or death, public health officials cautioned.

Despite the warnings, recreational crabbers can still hit the seas, unlike Bodega Bay’s Dick Ogg and other commercial fisherman who have been sidelined following seven straight years of season delays to protect endangered marine life from entanglements.

For Ogg, who predicts the commercial season will once again not open until January, and other fishermen across the state, these delays take a major toll on their profit margins.

“The impact is significant,” Ogg said Saturday. “What we have lost is our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s crab market. Everything has been pushed ahead to when people are less interested in getting the resource. It’s a lot more difficult and the financial impact to everyone is pretty significant.”

Read the full article at East Bay Times

CALIFORNIA: California delays commercial Dungeness crab season to 2026, citing presence of whales, sea turtles

October 28, 2025 — The U.S. state of California has delayed the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season until 2026 after regulators detected a high number of humpback whales and the presence of leatherback sea turtles off the coast.

“Another year of a delayed commercial Dungeness crab season is incredibly difficult for our fleet and port communities. However, given the current risk assessment process, the commercial fleet supported this outcome as the most practical path forward,” Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association (PCFFA) Executive Director Lisa Damrosch said in a release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

CALIFORNIA: 50th annual Zeke Grader forum addresses California fisheries crisis

October 7, 2025 — Lawmakers, tribal representatives and state officials gathered on October 1, in Sacramento for the 50th Annual Zeke Grader Fisheries Forum, focusing on the mounting difficulties facing California’s salmon and Dungeness crab fisheries.

Hosted by California Senator Mike McGuire and the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the forum highlighted the economic and environmental pressures impacting coastal communities. Officials discussed how warming ocean temperatures, drought, and habitat degradation have contributed to repeated salmon season closures and delayed crab opening along the West Coast.

Read the full article at KRCR

CALIFORNIA: Pop-up crab traps aim to save Central Coast’s struggling fisheries and its threatened whale population

August 11, 2025 — This spring, while the Dungeness crab fishery was closed along the California coast to prevent whale entanglements, fisherman Stephen Melz made a third of his annual income pulling up traps filled with the purple and red crustaceans.

Melz, a 40-year industry veteran who fishes out of Half Moon Bay, was one of around a dozen participants throughout the state able to legally fish for Dungeness crab as part of a trial program using pop-up gear, also known as “ropeless” or “on-demand.”

Between April and June, Melz made around $145,000 from spring crab fishing, a season that has been dramatically shortened or completely closed to all commercial fishers for the past nine years. “That pays some bills,” he joked. “We will absolutely keep using them in the spring.”

Read the full article at Lookout Santa Cruz

CALIFORNIA: California to shutter last open Dungeness crab fishing zones

June 16, 2025 — The remaining spots along California’s coast still open for commercial Dungeness crab fishing will close on June 20, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday.

The closure of the area between the California/Oregon border and the Sonoma/Mendocino county line stemmed from the entanglement of a humpback whale earlier this month. This area was the only one that remained open to commercial fisheries, as the area from the Sonoma/Mendocino line to the Mexico border closed in April.

Oceana, an ocean conservation group, said state and federal efforts to free the juvenile humpback haven’t yet worked.

“This unfortunate news of another humpback whale entangled in Dungeness crab gear dispels the narrative that whales don’t get entangled off Northern California,” said Caitlynn Birch, Oceana campaign manager and marine scientist, in a statement. “It is time to learn from these tragic entanglements, many of which could have been avoided.”

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service