All Quiet on the Dock: Crab Season Opening Late

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Eureka, Ca., (KIEM)- December 1 is the scheduled start of the commercial Dungeness crab season for Humboldt fisherman. This morning, Woodley Island Marine was nearly silent, and still filled with crab boats.

The start of the season has been delayed because crab meat recovery is too low. Essentially, the crab aren’t big enough to harvest. This puts commercial crab fisherman in a pinch for the holidays.

“Money’s spread pretty thing between the seasons sometimes.” Commercial Fisherman, Tom Fulkerson says. For the last couple of years the local crab season has been delayed. Just because fisherman are used to it, doesn’t make standing by any easier.

“This could be a little bit of a delay maybe a month. People are used to working in this business. You’re used to working and you get out what you put into it, and if you can’t put anything into it, your hands are tied, then its frustrating for pretty much everybody. I just try to stay busy and keep a positive attitude.” Fulkerson says.

He says a late start catching albacore had some fisherman catching up before things quieted down around Thanksgiving. Black Cod is another fish that some seasonal crabbers go after this time of year. Still, cod can only be fished between two and three times every two months.

In the interim, crabbers do what they can to fill time until the fleet pushes off. Fulkerson says that will hopefully happen in a month, but until then the livelihood of local crabbers leans on the fickle behavior of nature.

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