A delay for California crab season

Whale entanglements and domoic acid contamination push commercial Dungeness fishing beyond fall

- By SUSANNE RUST

DUNGENESS crab fishermen Bradlee Titus, left, and Axel Bjorklund haul in a crab pot off the coast of Sonoma in Bodega Bay in January.

For many Californians, crab bakes, crab cakes and crab feeds are traditional holiday fare.

But the need to protect humpback whales in California’s coastal waters, combined with widespread domoic acid contamination along the northern coast, has once again put the brakes on the Dungeness commercial fishery and parts of the recreational fishery this fall.

Consuming shellfish contaminated with domoic acid can cause illness and death.

Last week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it was delaying the opening of commercial crab fishing statewide until Jan. 1, The season will end July 31. It had been scheduled to start Nov. 1.