It is evident that less than two weeks after the fishery opened across most of the state Nov. 15, crab boats are hauling up discouragingly empty pots. Mike Ricketts, president of the Monterey Fishermen’s Marketing Association, told that they are just scratching by, and it’s a bad scratch at that. He also said that the fishers are fishing Monterey Bay were getting about half a crab per pot” on average.
The season has poor start, said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations in San Francisco. He reported that the rpesent is looking a little bleak and the crab landings to date have been very poor. The meager commercial catch means crabs at your local market are getting more expensive and harder to find.
Dimas Lopez, manager of Sea Harvest Fish Market in Monterey, said that there aren’t enough crabs. Lopez said he has had to raise his Dungeness prices as a result, from $6.99 per pound to $8.99. “There’s just not a lot of crab around,” said Phil DiGirolamo, owner of Phil’s Fish Market and Eatery in Moss Landing. Brooke McVeigh, a marine biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, said that the poor opening does not bode well for the crab season.
McVeigh said the Dungeness fishery is a cyclical one. This season may represent one of its regular dips. Historically, California’s highest-yielding Dungeness grounds have been off the state’s northern coast, said Grader of the PCFFA.
