Why the holiday crab tradition in California is facing another turbulent season

For many Californians, crab cakes, crab cakes and crab cakes are traditional holiday fare.

But the need to protect humpback whales in California’s coastal waters, combined with widespread domoic acid pollution along the North Coast, has once again put a break in the Dungeness’ commercial fishing and recreational fishing sectors this fall.

Consuming shellfish contaminated with domoic acid can cause illness and death.

Last week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it was suspending the opening of commercial crab fishing statewide from November 1 to January 1.

New state regulations require fishing if three or more humpback whales are confirmed to have been entangled in crab gear during the year. So far in 2025, four whales have been entangled in commercial Dungeness crab fishing nets and lines. An additional four humpbacks were caught in gear that officials suspected but could not confirm was for fishing.

Dungeness crabs are generally caught in coastal waters north of San Francisco.

In 2024, a record number of fish were caught in fishing gear in US waters, with California in first place, accounting for nearly 25% of the 95 confirmed cases.

Entanglement is just one of many threats facing whales around the world. Earlier this year, 21 gray whales died in Bay Area waters, most of them hit by boats. Animals are increasingly stressed by changes in food availability, transportation, noise pollution, waste disposal, disease and plastic waste, and their ability to survive and avoid these constraints is decreasing.

The delay is “the best course of action for fishing and whales,” said Geoff Shester, director and senior scientist for Oceana’s California Campaign. “The risk that endangered whales could become entangled in crab gear is high, so we must now redouble our efforts.”

He said environmentalists and others are hopeful that tuna fishermen will adapt. Newer equipment, such as pop-up gear — which uses remote-controlled pop-up balloon devices to bring cages to the surface, rather than entangling them with lines — appears to be on the way to state approval.

“The delayed commercial Dungeness crab season next year is extremely difficult for our fleet and port communities,” Lisa Damrosch, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisheries Oceans, said in a joint statement with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. “However, given the current risk assessment process, the merchant fleet supported this conclusion as a viable option.

Most areas open to recreational crab fishing on November 1st. Along the coast from Gualala to Crescent City, where domoic acid is abundant, fishing will not be taken until state health officials determine that domoic acid is no longer a public health threat. About 100 miles south of Gualala Point Reyes, health officials have issued an advisory for crabs.

This is the sixth year in a row that fishing has been suspended as a result of fishing concerns, according to Ryan Bartling, a scientist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. In previous years, before the numerical limit, the delay was a judgment call.