May 4, 2026 — A San Francisco tech billionaire is leading an effort to bring back local crab in time for Thanksgiving, arguing the issue is about more than tradition. He said it’s also about supporting struggling fishermen and finding a better balance with marine life protections.
Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple and head of the Clean Break Fund, is pushing for changes to the way California manages its commercial Dungeness crab season. In recent years, the season has been delayed from its traditional mid-November start to as late as January in an effort to reduce whale entanglements, cutting into what fishermen say is their most profitable time of year.
For fishermen like Casey Crowl, the shorter season has taken a toll.
“It’s a reduction. It means that you’ve got to just work that much harder,” Crowl said.