Saving Seafood

CALIFORNIA: Dungeness crab fishing season ends four weeks early

May 25, 2021 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is ending the Dungeness crab fishing season early on June 1 because of an increase in humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean.

On May 18, Charlton Bonham, director of the state agency, announced that recent survey data indicated an increase in humpback whales returning from their winter breeding grounds to California fishing grounds.

In a press release, Bonham said that considering the data and recommendations from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group and other stakeholders, he assessed the entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced the early closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery.

All commercial crab traps must be removed from the fishing grounds by noon on June 1.

Read the full story at The New Times

CALIFORNIA: Monterey Bay area affected by shortened crab season

May 21, 2021 — With the higher number of humpback whales descending on Central Coast waters, and out of concern with them becoming entangled in crab lines, state officials said this week that they will close the Dungeness crab season on June 1, four weeks early.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which regulates the state’s crab fishery, issued the decision Tuesday following agency Director Charlton Bonham’s assessment of entanglement risk to humpback whales and critically endangered leatherback sea turtles.

The closure will begin statewide at noon on June 1.

“It has been a very difficult year for many in our fishing communities and I recognize that every day of lost fishing further impacts families and small businesses,” Bonham said in a statement.

Read the full story at the Monterey Herald

Risk of whale entanglements means a delay for crab season.

November 19, 2020 — Thanksgiving dinner will not include fresh-caught Dungeness crab this year, as state officials delayed the opening of commercial fishing from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1.

Eating Dungeness crab on Thanksgiving, instead of or alongside turkey, is a tradition that goes back decades in the Monterey and San Francisco bay areas. But as concern grew over whales getting entangled in the lines that get dropped to the ocean floor with crab traps, new conservation rules came into play.

In early November, aerial surveys and whale watching boats spotted dozens of humpbacks pausing to forage off the coast as part of a migration that eventually takes them to breeding grounds in Mexican waters. Those observations triggered action by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

“While no one wants to delay the season, CDFW and the Working Group feel a delay is necessary to reduce the risk of entanglement,” CDFW Director Charlton Bonham said in a statement, referring to the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, which includes trade representatives, environmentalists and government officials. “The fleet has gone to great lengths to be more nimble in order to protect whales and turtles, and the results are promising.”

Read the full story at Monterey County Now

California Dungeness crabbers protest early shutdown

April 29, 2020 — California state officials are ordering an early end to the southern Dungeness crab season May 15 to protect migrating whales, a move fishing advocates say is out of proportion to the actual risk.

In an April 15 notice Charlton Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, announced the Dungeness season would close and all gear pulled by mid-May, two months early, south of the Mendocino-Sonoma County line.

The decision comes as the fishery is winding down, with the California fleet gearing up for a promising salmon season that opens May 1. But it cuts off a sector that is providing jobs and seafood in coastal communities hit hard by coronavirus restrictions and their economic impact, said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association.

“They say that there’s ‘significant risk.’ But the whale working group determined there was low risk, as they have in all of the recommendations this season,” said Platt, referring to a stakeholder advisory group established in 2015 to assess seasonal risks of gear entanglement.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

CALIFORNIA: Dungeness crab fishing season delayed due to whale and sea turtle entanglement risk

November 11, 2019 — State Fish and Wildlife officials are delaying the start of the Dungeness crab fishing season due to a threat of whale and sea turtle entanglements.

Charlton Bonham, director of the Fish and Wildlife department, issued a decision to postpone the start date for California Dungeness crab fishermen south of the Mendocino/Sonoma County line for one week — from Nov. 15 to Nov. 22. The decision was based on data indicating the prevalence of whales in the area.

Bonham’s decision to minimize entanglement risk follows a court-approved agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, a Phoenix-based environmental nonprofit that in 2017 sued the wildlife agency, claiming it had fallen short in preventing Dungeness crab fishing gear from killing humpback, blue whales and leatherback sea turtles. Fish and Wildlife is responsible for granting the fishery its permits.

Bonham originally delayed the start of the season until Nov. 23, but moved it up one day after receiving input from the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group. The group, made up of commercial and recreational fishermen, environmentalists, members of the disentanglement network, and state and federal agencies explores ways to minimize whale entanglements in crab fishing gear.

Read the full story at The Orange County Register

CALIFORNIA: Dungeness fleet thankful for Nov. 22 start

November 8, 2019 — For the last several years California’s Dungeness fleet has been trapped between domoic acid delays, slow meat fill, and accusations of whale entanglements that shortened their season on one end or the other (or both, as was the case last year).

Negotiations last week had the start set for Saturday, Nov. 23. That would mean the fleet could drop pots on the 22nd. But it would also put a serious crunch on the Thanksgiving market, which is the most lucrative time of year for the fleet.

Fleet representatives voiced those concerns to Charlton Bonham, director of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, and won a one-day reprieve to drop pots on the 21st and start the season officially on Nov. 22 for Bodega Bay and points south.

“Losing a week means losing millions of dollars at a key time for the market,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “But the risks baked into the operation of this season under the settlement, not to mention the political risks and the attention focused on this decision, mean the Working Group and fishery managers had to thread a needle. I think we succeeded this time.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

California Considers Sport Crab Fishery for Action Relating to Whale Entanglement

April 19, 2019 — The California Fish and Game Commission is proactively working to avoid further whale entanglements — and further lawsuits.

On Wednesday the Commission approved the Marine Resources Committee to take up the issue of recreational crab fishing, and possibly other fixed gear fisheries, and its potential to entangle whales. The commercial fleet early on questioned why other fisheries, particularly sport fisheries, were not subject to the same scrutiny as the commercial sector.

The commercial season closed earlier this week, on April 15, as part of a settlement agreement between the Center for Biological Diversity, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, which intervened on the case.

CDFW Director Charlton “Chuck” Bonham said during the introduction that, despite a lot of the rhetoric, the increase in whale entanglements in 2015 and 2016 were examples of the real-life impacts of climate change. While the commercial crab season was delayed for months due to elevated levels of domoic acid, whales also ventured closer to shore in search of prey species. Both of those events were linked to warmer ocean waters.

Bonham said during the progression of the lawsuit, the department concluded the judge was likely to rule against the state. Had that happened, the court could have become a “special master” of the crab fishery, he said, and that inserting a federal judge in the management of the fishery wouldn’t make it any easier.

Thus, the state proceeded with settlement discussions between all three parties and began working with NOAA to establish a habitat conservation plan for the whales and get an incidental take permit for the fishery. The process could take up to two years. In the meantime, for some areas, particularly south of Mendocino County, the commercial fishery is scheduled to close on April 1.

The state also is accelerating its rulemaking activities relative to gear, furthering its gear retrieval program, restricting buoy and line configurations and furthering support for the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, Bonham said.

However, there’s also an equity issue, he said.

“It’s time to think about a refined approach to how we manage fixed gear in the water,” noting that recreational crab fishing could have similar issues with whale entanglements as the commercial crabbers have had.

PCFFA Executive Director supported the director’s comments.

“You can’t overstate the impact,” Oppenheim said of the effect on commercial fishermen and processors. “[It was] a seismic shock to our industry.”

The confidential nature of the settlement discussions did not allow any of the parties to discuss potential solutions with the broader fleet, leaving many crabbers frustrated when the agreement was finally disclosed. The fleet had less than a month to remove their gear from the water.

Oppenheim described the past few months as the worst period of his professional career, but it pales in comparison to the livelihoods of his members, he said. Many fishermen are losing the spring fishery on which they depend. Others had to delay their fishing seasons due to elevated levels of domoic acid, so the early closure only made things worse.

Now, recreational fishermen and other fixed gear fishermen may face the same quandary. Entanglements in other fisheries could have an impact on the settlement agreement.

Sport fishermen noted there are vast differences between commercial and sport crabbing gear and sport fishermen should not be subject to the same settlement agreement.

It’s manifestly unfair to apply that settlement on parties who had no representation to the discussion, said George Osborne, a lobbyist for the Coastside Fishing Club. Osborn said the club insists that any management measures on recreational crabbers be proportionate to the degree that anglers may be contributing to the whale and turtle entanglements.

Commission President Eric Sklar said the commission and managers recognize the differences between the fisheries.

The Marine Resources Committee will continue the discussion when it meets on July 11.

This article was republished with permission from SeafoodNews.com

California: Surprise Drop in Domoic Acid Levels in N. California Mean Fisheries Are Clear; Oregon to Retest Also

January 3, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Late Friday, before New Year’s weekend, California state agencies released welcome news: recent testing showed a commercial lobster area could be opened and an advisory lifted for sport crabbing north of the Klamath River in northern California.

State agencies have been testing for domoic acid, a naturally occurring neurotoxin, routinely in the fall and winter in anticipation of opening closed lobster areas and lifting crabbing advisory for sport fishermen or opening the commercial crab season.

On Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham lifted the commercial spiny lobster fishery closure on the southeast side of Santa Cruz Island east of 119°40.000’ W. longitude, west of 119° 30.00’ W, and south of 34°00.000’ N. latitude as recommended by state health agencies, the state notice said. According to the notice from the Director of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, sampling of spiny lobster and analysis of samples by California Department of Public Health laboratories indicates that consumption of spiny lobster taken from this area no longer poses a significant threat for domoic acid exposure, it continued.

On Oct. 24, 2017, state health agencies determined that spiny lobster in waters around Anacapa Island, Ventura County and the east end of Santa Cruz Island, Santa Barbara County had unhealthy levels of domoic acid and recommended closure of the commercial fishery in this area.

The commercial closure remains in effect in all state waters around the northeast end of Santa Cruz Island east of 119°40.000’ W. longitude, west of 119° 30.00’ W, and north of 34°00.000’ N. latitude and the south side of Anacapa Island east of 119°30.000’ W, west of 119°20.000’ W, and south of 34°00.000’ N latitude. The closures will remain in effect until state agencies determine domoic acid no longer poses a significant risk to public health.

At the same time, CDPH lifted the last remaining health advisory for Dungeness crab caught along the California Coast in sport fisheries. CDPH lifted this advisory Friday due to recent tests showing that the amount of domoic acid has declined to low or undetectable levels in Dungeness crab caught in the area, indicating that they are safe to consume. The final health advisory lifted Friday was for Dungeness crab caught north of the Klamath River mouth, Del Norte County (41°32.500’ N. lat.) to the Oregon border.

The advisory lifting for the sport fishery gives commercial crabbers in Northern California they might be able to set gear on Jan. 15.

However, the second test in a row of clear crab from Pt. St. George Reef in northern California was a surprise to Oregon fishery managers who scrambled to get vessels out to harvest crab for testing in Southern Oregon. Without two clear tests in a row of domoic acid, at least seven days apart, Oregon managers will have to work with Tri-State managers to determine when and how to allow commercial fishing in southern Oregon and northern California.

Tri-State fishery managers already have announced a Jan. 15, 2018, commercial fishery opening north of Cape Blanco, near Port Orford, Oregon.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.