Hopes are high for commercial crab season

The opening of commercial crab season is being greeted with excitement and optimism this year.

By Tuesday afternoon, the pots had been soaking for hours and fishermen were pulling the first batches of Dungeness crabs from Monterey Bay.

“There is a lot of excitement. We’re going to catch a lot of crab this year. The ocean looks pretty good,” said Melinda Bowlin, a commercial crabber.

Fishermen are breathing a sigh of relief after last year’s disastrous season, when commercial business was off by more than 50 percent.

“It was devastating to almost every fisherman I know,” said Bowlin.

Last year, health concerns over domoic acid, a neurotoxin living in the crabs’ bodies, shut down the season. This year, the crabs are much cleaner.

“They’re big, very meaty, filled out, juicy and very sweet,” said Sharon Morozuni, a recreational crab fisherman.

Restaurants like Phil’s Fish Market at the Moss Landing Harbor are already getting requests for Dungeness.

“They started calling last week because they had the opener for the sport fishermen and everybody wanted to get crab. I said ‘oh no, we can’t – we don’t have our season yet.’ Our season starts on the 15 th ,” said Phil DiGirolamo, owner of Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery. “We’ll be excited to be cooking them and cracking them and making people’s holiday fulfilled.”

Crab fishermen say it’s too early to know how the season will shape up.

“The big ocean swells may have affected how many crab there are right now,” said Morozuni.

For now, there’s a sense of optimism on the docks.

“All the men’s morale seems a lot better than last year,” said Bowlin.