November 2, 2021 — State fishery officials have delayed the start of Dungeness crab fishing season from Monterey to Point Arena along the Mendocino County coast at least until just days before Thanksgiving, threatening to eliminate the dining favorite from your holiday table.
Last year, the Californian Department of Fish and Wildlife delayed the commercial crab fishing season shortly before Thanksgiving in order to protect whales and sea turtles.
On Monday, they delayed the season again, but this time the State cast an even larger net, including sport fishermen as well.
The delay is based on data from the state’s recently created Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program and has been put into place to protect the migrating pods of humpback whales off the California coast.
State official said aerial surveys on Oct. 18 and 19 counted 48 humpback whales along fishing zones in the area between the Sonoma-Mendocino line and Half Moon Bay.
Aerial surveys undertaken by NOAA researchers throughout October showed at least four distinct individual Pacific leatherback sea turtles also in the fishing grounds.