California crab fisheries to close early to protect whales

California crab fisheries will close for the season in April, when whales are feeding off the state’s coast, as part of an effort to keep Dungeness crab fishery gear from killing protected whales.

The April 15 closure, three months before the crabbing season normally ends, is part of a settlement reached Tuesday by the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The center sued the state agency in 2017, saying it was liable for a surge in entanglements of endangered whales and sea turtles because it oversees operation of the fishery off California’s coast.

Whale entanglements on the West Coast have broken records in recent years as climate change pushes the mammals closer to shore, and fishing gear, in their search for food.

Central Coast crab fishermen will have to haul in the rest of their crab gear in less than three weeks.

“For guys who don’t have much else to do, this could put them out of business,” crab fisherman Mike Sardina said.

Many crab fishermen are already winding down their catching season, but small boat fishermen exclusively focused on Dungeness crab could lose a lot of money this year.

“We’ll see what the end result’s going to be, but you could see losing a third of your season,” Sardina said. “Whether the boat’s here or not, you have to pay to stay here and have to pay your insurance every month.”

Sardina said he should make it through the year, but it still puts a strain on business. It also means less local crab at restaurants.

The Whale Entanglement Team in Monterey Bay says the crab fishermen have been very helpful with their efforts to limit whale entanglement.

“About two thirds of the entanglement, we don’t have any clue what fisheries its from,”Peggy Stap, with the Whale Entanglement Team, said. “The crab fisherman are one of the few fishermen who mark their gear so we know when it’s crab.”

Calder Deyerle is the local fisherman representative for the dungeness crab gear working group, an organization whose goal is to find ways to prevent entanglement to keep fisherman and conservationists happy.

In the four years they’ve existed, Deyerle says they’ve made improvements, but there is still a long way to go.

“Right now, the quest for whale-conscious gear that works as good as everyone imagines it may one day is the hunt for the white unicorn,” Deyerle said.

But the awareness could be making a difference in preventing entanglement.

“Last year, we had nine responses, here and previous years I’ve done as many as 18,” Stap said.

As part of the lawsuit, for the next two years, the crab fishing season will end April 1.