New generation of San Francisco crab fishermen await upcoming Dungeness season
Bay Area commercial crab fishermen are waiting for another assessment in December to get a better idea of when they'll get the green light to harvest Dungeness crab.
Years of shortened seasons have led many to leave the industry. But that's not stopping some younger generation fishermen.
Just one fishing boat is docked at Pier 45 in San Francisco, with its crew unloading their catch.
It will be another late night for Jonathan Tin and best friend Hunter Nguyen. They haven't slept much lately, with most of their days and nights at sea.
"We just love it. There's nothing else like it, going out there," said Tin.
They're hauling in hundreds of pounds of rock crab, which can be fished year-round in shallow waters without endangering wildlife like humpback whales and brown leather back turtles. But rock crab has less meat and isn't nearly as profitable compared to Dungeness.
"This is a red rock crab and this is a yellow rock crab," Tin explained.
Tin said he can sell to wholesalers and off the boat for roughly half the price of Dungeness.
Fishermen said their livelihoods are severely impacted by shortened seasons, while environmentalists said regulations over the years are making a difference.
Ben Grundy is with the Center for Biological Diversity.
"When there is gear in the water, whether it's one line or hundreds of lines, there's a risk of an entanglement happening. As long as there are still high numbers and large concentrations of marine animals off our coast, delaying the opening is definitely the smart thing to do," said Grundy.
Until the season opens, fishing for rock crab is Tin's best option.
"We've been on the boat probably like five or six nights a week. We go home once a week," said Tin.
Other veteran fishermen say costs and lack of demand for rock crab are too prohibitive to make it sustainable for most crews in the fleet.
CBS News Bay Area met Tin and Nguyen working as deckhands two years ago. They've hauled in countless crab pots for a decade.
"We were able to save up some money and we bought this boat. And now we're working hard and trying to make a living for ourselves on this thing," said Tin.
This is the chance they've been working for.
"You have a lot more motivation to get things done because it's all on you," said Nguyen.
Tin said it takes extra work finding wholesalers, ethnic grocery markets, and consumers willing to pay for these so-called "alternative" crabs.
"The majority of the meat these things are in the claws. They have big menial claws," said Tin.
As soon as the Dungeness delay is lifted by state wildlife officials, they'll gear up for the more profitable product. But for now, they're all in.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has delayed the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season for all fishing zones in California. Officials said the delay is driven by a combination of factors including a high number of reported entanglements of large whales, particularly humpbacks, in crab‐gear vertical lines.
The next risk assessment to decide when to open the Dungeness Crab fishery will occur around mid-December.