Commercial Crab Season Opens With New Law Limiting Traps

Commercial crab season officially opened Friday, Nov. 15.

Quality tests conducted in the Central California region in early November indicated that California Dungeness crabs are ready for harvest, according to a California Fish and Wildlife report.

Traffic in and out of Pillar Point Harbor this past weekend was monumental with trucks, trailers and boats coming into the area from as far away as Oregon and Washington states. 

Fishermen are expected to maximize their efforts within the next few weeks while the crab supply is running high, pulling in as much crab as they can.

The 2013-14 commercial Dungeness crab season marks the first season that the Dungeness crab trap limit program will be in effect. A total of about 175,000 crab pots are allowed to be dropped, which is divided among the nearly 600 fishermen permitted to fish for crab in the state, according to California Fish and Wildlife. 

The program consists of seven tiers of trap allotments ranging from 175 to 500 traps. Dungeness crab vessel permit-holders can only fish the maximum number of traps within their respective trap tier. Washington and Oregon implemented their trap limit programs in 1999 and 2006. California now joins those ranks.

This new state law gives small boaters a chance to compete with larger boats, which mostly float down from Oregon and Washington often loaded with 2,000 traps aboard and then head back north to fish in their territory, where the season begins later.

The law was drafted by state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, negotiated by a task force of fishermen and other industry stakeholders and is implemented by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The season opener was also preceded by an 18-hour gear setting period when fishermen were allowed to set crab trap gear no earlier than 6 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14. 

Fishermen on the pier are selling crab straight off their boats at $3 per pound for wholesale crab and are expecting a busy, prolific season.