MENDOCINO Co., 12/5/18 — The Dungeness commercial crab season will begin in Sonoma county at midnight on Dec. 8 from Bodega Bay to the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has announced. However, any commercial crabbing further north has been delayed until at least Dec. 15, at which point, the CDFW will determine whether to open the commercial crabbing season, and for how long, from the Mendocino County line north to Del Norte County.
The delay of crab season in Sonoma County was due to the presence of domoic acid, but that has been determined to no longer be a threat to public health. The delay of crab season in the fisheries to the north is due to poor meat quality tests. If meat quality improves by December 16, after new tests have been conducted, then CDFW will open the season in Mendocino.
Here’s the full announcement from the CDFW:
Commercial Dungeness Crab Season to Open in Sonoma County
Press release from CDFW
Posted: 03 Dec 2018 02:58 PM PST
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham issued a declaration to open the commercial Dungeness crab fishery from Bodega Head, Sonoma County north to the Sonoma/Mendocino county line.
The area from the southern boundary of Bodega Head State Marine Reserve, Sonoma County (38° 18’ N. latitude) north to the Sonoma/Mendocino county line (38° 46.125’ N. latitude) was closed due to elevated levels of domoic acid. Public health agencies have determined that domoic acid no longer poses a significant risk to public health in this area.
Under recent amendments to Section 5523 of the Fish and Game Code, the CDFW Director may provide a minimum of 72-hours’ notice before a gear setting period. Therefore, the Director has declared the fishery to open at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 to be preceded by an 18-hour gear setting period that would begin no earlier than 6:01 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018.
No vessel may take crab within a delayed area during the closure period. In addition, any vessel that has landed crab from ocean waters outside of this delayed area is prohibited from taking, possessing onboard, or landing Dungeness crab in this area until Jan. 7, 2019 pursuant to Section 8279.1 of the Fish and Game Code.
The northern California commercial Dungeness crab fishery in Fish and Game Districts 6, 7, 8 and 9 (Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties) remains closed until 12:01 a.m. December 16, 2018 due to poor crab meat quality tests. If the next round of test results indicate good quality, the fishery will open and be preceded by a 64-hour gear setting period.
For more information, please see the Frequently Asked Questions regarding the 2018-19 Dungeness crab commercial season.
Memo from Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (12/03/18)
For more information on health advisories related to fisheries, please visit: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/
Fishing/Ocean/Health-Advisories
More information on Dungeness crab, please visit: www.wildlife.ca.gov/crab
Its important to state in the title or first paragraph at least that you are talking about the commercial fishery. But thanks for publishing the press release, which clarifies the context.
this is a photo of a rock crab, not Dungeness crab.
+1 to both comments by M. Patyten.
Recreational Dungeness crab season has been under way in Mendocino waters since the first of December. Rock crab season is open all year (that wikicommons photo is a Rock crab).
Thanks, you are both correct, thank you for the correction.
We’ve updated the photo but sometimes there is a delay in when the change will appear.