New Year’s Kicks off with California Dungeness Crab Season Opener off Central and Southern Coasts on Jan 5
Mandatory gear reductions expected to reduce whale entanglement risk
Press Release Date: December 20, 2024
Location: Monterey, Calif.
Contact:
Ashley Blacow | email: ablacow@oceana.org | tel: 1.831.643.9220
Today the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced that the commercial Dungeness crab fishery for the central and southern coasts will open on January 5, 2025. To reduce entanglement risk to whales, fishermen setting crab traps in zones 3, 4, 5, and 6 (south of Point Arena) will be required to deploy 50% fewer crab traps than normally allowed. This follows three delays to this season’s starter to protect whales from becoming entangled in the vertical lines associated with conventional crab gear. The commercial opener off the north coast, in fishing zones 1 and 2 (from the Sonoma/Mendocino County line to the Oregon/ California border), will be further delayed to January 15, 2025, due to the inability to conduct industry-sponsored meat quality testing. When the commercial fishery off the north coast opens on January 15, 2025, fishermen will be required to deploy 25% fewer crab traps than normally allowed. The recreational crab trap prohibition in zones 3 and 4 off the central coast will be lifted on January 2.
CDFW reports that four humpback whales were confirmed entangled in California commercial Dungeness crab gear so far this year, with an additional ten humpbacks entangled in unidentified fishing gear that may be California Dungeness crab gear. The most recent humpback entanglement was confirmed by NOAA Fisheries on December 2. Cumulative whale entanglement numbers in all West Coast fisheries are at a six-year high. Of all West Coast fisheries, the California Dungeness crab fishery is associated with the most confirmed entanglements.
Dr. Geoff Shester, Oceana’s California campaign director and senior scientist and a member of the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, released the following statement:
“We are cautiously optimistic about the commercial season opener of the Dungeness crab fishery. Our support for the season opener demonstrates our support for California fishermen, and we hope the reduced amount of fishing gear in the water will be enough to avoid interactions with the whales migrating south to winter breeding grounds, and for the juvenile whales that remain off California throughout the winter. But the state needs to do more to reduce whale entanglements in light of the sustained and high entanglement numbers. We would like to see the use of conventional crab traps end earlier this season to protect whales when they return from their breeding grounds. This spring, we are hopeful to see robust participation in experimental trials to test whale-safe pop-up gear, which could pave the way toward a revived spring crab fishery.”
CDFW is currently developing new and updated regulations to address wildlife entanglements in the Dungeness crab fishery, including a requirement to phase in unique line markings so entanglements can be identified to the fishery, electronic vessel monitoring, and regulations enabling CDFW to authorize innovative pop-up gear for widespread springtime use.
Last week, the California Fish and Game Commission took action to expand Dungeness crab pop-up fishing gear trials in spring 2025 by doubling the number of fishermen who can access pop-up fishing gear and allowing fishermen to use their full trap allotment in strings of up to 50 traps each that can be fished under the Sub Sea Sonics/Guardian Ropeless Experimental Fishing Permit. Fishermen, gear manufacturers, and CDFW are working hard to enable authorization of pop-up gear by spring of 2026 that could allow for crab fishing without danger to whales and sea turtles and revive the spring crabbing season off California’s central coast.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), roughly 75 percent of reported whale entanglements are fatal as whales can drag heavy fishing gear for months, hindering their ability to dive and feed. This can result in malnutrition, starvation, infection to damaged flukes and even severed appendages and drowning.
Pop-up fishing gear (also called “ropeless” or “on-demand”) is a proven way to prevent whale entanglements while providing additional fishing opportunities. Rather than a line connecting a surface buoy to a trap on the seafloor that can hang in the water column for multiple days, pop-up gear stores the rope and buoy with the trap on the seafloor until an acoustic release mechanism is triggered from the fishing boat that sends the buoy to the surface. Last spring pop-up fishing gear was tested by 19 commercial California Dungeness crab fishermen who had a 98% success rate in gear retrieval and landed a total of 292,000 pounds of crab valued at approximately $1.5 million. This was during a time when waters off central California were closed to conventional crab gear to prevent whale entanglements.
Figure. California Dungeness crab fishing zones.
To learn more about Oceana’s campaign for whale safe oceans please visit www.oceana.org/WhaleSafeOceans
Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. Oceana is rebuilding abundant and biodiverse oceans by winning science-based policies in countries that control one-quarter of the world’s wild fish catch. With more than 300 victories that stop overfishing, habitat destruction, oil and plastic pollution, and the killing of threatened species like turtles, whales, and sharks, Oceana’s campaigns are delivering results. A restored ocean means that 1 billion people can enjoy a healthy seafood meal every day, forever. Together, we can save the oceans and help feed the world. Visit Oceana.org to learn more.
