BODEGA BAY, Calif. (KCBS RADIO) – West Coast commercial crab fishermen warn it could be the end of their industry, as they face continued delays in the opening of the fishing season.
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State wildlife officials have issued another delay to the Dungeness crab season due to whale sightings along the coast — the third delay since early November.
Dan Baker has been fishing for Dungeness crab for 40 years, but he told KCBS Radio it may soon come to an end. "If it continues like it is I'm just going to have to sell my permit and get out of it because, I mean, I'm just paying bills sitting here and it's not doing us any good," Baker said. "Then when they do give us the conditions, my old 40-footer can't go out in those conditions. These big 50 and 60-footers can do it."
Baker and hundreds of other fishermen are land-locked due to an order from California Department of Fish and Wildlife that bans crab fishing due to the presence of whales. Several humpback whales became entangled in crab fishing nets this year and died.
"Two of them were down in Moss Landing or down in that general area. Nothing to do with our area up here, but we don't want to harm the whales anymore than anyone else does," Lorne Edwards, president of the Fishermen's Marketing Association of Bodega Bay, told KCBS Radio.
Edwards said the season used to begin the second week of November, but now the boats may not hit the water until January. He said this behavior is going to kill the industry.
Many crab fishermen also fish for salmon — a season which is routinely cut back as well due to the drought.
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