Fishermen Optimistic as Recreational Crab Season Opens Saturday

This weekend marks the start of Dungeness crab season in California. Recreational crabbing kicks off Saturday for the entire coast, with the commercial season set to follow later this month.

After two years of health advisories and costly delays to the season due to dangerous levels of domoic acid found in crabs, fishermen are optimistic this season will open without a hitch.

"If all goes according to plan, and we expect it will, there will be Thanksgiving crab in California this year. And that’ll be a first in recent memory," said Noah Oppenheim of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations.

Commercial crab season is scheduled for Nov. 15 for the Sonoma-Mendocino county line and points south. The northern region is slated for Dec. 1.

Oppenheim says the outlook is a huge relief to the California fishing industry, which has been hit hard by truncated crab seasons and environmental factors that have impacted the state's fisheries.

"We’ve seen year after year of declining salmon runs, and in the place of salmon, crab has really emerged," he said. "When we see declines or delays, that results in real economic destabilization, not just for fishermen, but throughout the seafood economy."

Domoic acid is a byproduct of algal blooms that typically occur in summer months. Once the toxin gets into the food chain, it can build up inside crab and other shellfish, making them dangerous to eat. Domoic acid poisoning in humans may result in dizziness and vomiting, and can be potentially fatal.

The state's Department of Public Health will continue to monitor levels of domoic acid in crabs leading up to the commercial season openers.

A portion of crabs from the northern portion of the California coast have recently shown elevated levels of the toxin. But as water temperatures continue to cool through the month, that could change.

"Biologists who work on the algae that produces domoic acid have shown that it’s tied to warm water events or warmer ocean temperatures," said Christy Juhasz, who manages the Dungeness crab fishery for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Juhasz says that the toxins typically don't linger in the animal's tissue once the algae is gone.

Health officials have yet to issue any advisories for eating crab you catch yourself this season. But if you’re headed to the pier this weekend to catch crab, they typically recommend removing crab guts before preparing, and throwing out the cooking water, as a precaution.