Bay Area commercial Dungeness crab season delayed again by weather, pricing dispute
The long-delayed local commercial Dungeness crab season is expected to begin Monday, but seafood lovers eager for fresh local crab will have to wait a bit longer.
High winds and rough seas off the San Francisco coast, combined with an ongoing pricing dispute between fishermen and buyers, are keeping crab boats docked near Fisherman's Wharf.
Crab fishermen were originally scheduled to head out Friday morning to drop their crab pots. That timeline would have allowed them to retrieve the pots and sell their catch when the commercial season officially opens on Monday. Instead, dangerous ocean conditions have pushed those plans back.
"We're not going to drop until, at the earliest, probably Monday or Tuesday," said Jonathan Tin, a commercial crab fisherman.
On Friday, Tin loaded two boats with crab pots at the wharf, but strong winds and large swells just offshore made it unsafe to head out.
"We waited for a month and a half, what's a couple of more days?" Tin said. "At least, if the weather gets nice, we can go out and do it safely. We don't have to risk our lives doing a job that's already really dangerous."
In addition to weather concerns, Bay Area crab fishermen are holding out for higher prices before heading to sea. John Barnett, president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association, said fishermen are seeking an additional 50 to 75 cents per pound from fish markets and wholesale buyers.
Until an agreement is reached, Barnett said, boats will remain in port.
"It's not expected to be a tremendous amount of crabs out here," Barnett said. "So we want to get the most money that we can for them and make this a season, especially without our salmon season the last few years. Three years in a row, we have not had a salmon season for commercial fishing."
For fishermen like Tin, the delays have taken a heavy toll. The crab season has once again been pushed from November to January due to whale migration, cutting into the most lucrative time of year.
"Not starting in November was really hard for us because we missed out on the holiday price with Thanksgiving and Christmas," Tin said.
This season, state regulations also limit fishermen to 60 percent of their allowable crab pots.
"We have a 350-pot permit," Tin said. "So 60% of that is 210."
Those restrictions, combined with rising costs, are why fishermen say higher prices are critical.
From the restaurant side, operators said lower prices could help consumers.
"Lower price will mean we can pass it along to the [average] consumer," said Bob Partrite, chief operating officer of Crab House.
For now, most Dungeness crab sold at Bay Area markets and restaurants are coming from Oregon and Washington. Partrite operates five restaurants and a coffee house at Pier 39, and says demand spikes once local crab becomes available.
"When it is local Dungeness crab season and we can offer local crabs, we tend to see an increase in crab sales," Partrite said. "There's nothing like getting it the day it was pulled out of the water, right off the boat locally. So we like to cook them right off the boat."
Tin remains hopeful he'll soon be able to deliver fresh, locally caught Dungeness crab, but says all conditions must align first.
"This is our first year we bought the boat, and we're excited to get out and start hauling in some crab," he said.
Both sides hope to settle the pricing dispute by Monday. If an agreement is reached and weather conditions improve, fishermen could head out as early as Tuesday and return with fresh local Dungeness crab by Wednesday. Some fishermen plan to sell directly off their boats at Pier 45 and Pier 47, cutting out the middleman.