A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
November 4 2008
3. Watersheds –
Economy worries Pillar Point fishers as they await crab season
Contra Costa Times – 11/3/08
By Julia Scott
PRINCETON-BY-THE-SEA — Ask a fisher what's on his mind these days, and he'll give you one word: crab.
After months of pent-up anticipation, fishers at Pillar Point Harbor have finally begun moving their towering stacks of crab traps from the parking lot onto their boats in preparation for the Nov. 15 commercial crab season opener — followed by two weeks of blessedly abundant Dungeness crab, sweet and dense and skittering close to shore.
The sport fishing season for crab in the Bay Area opened Saturday, and the few charter boats to have braved the wind and rain have found troves of adult crab, enough to fill their daily catch limit.
The question for many crabbers: Will there be any catch left in the ocean come Dec. 1? Last year about this time, crab fishers and their eager customers were gearing up for a plentiful crab harvest when the Cosco Busan spilled more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the Bay.
The season opener was put on hold for local fishers locked inside a "safety zone" that prevented them from leaving the Bay. Meanwhile, a flotilla of out-of-town boats scooped up 300,000 pounds of crab from the ocean.
Barring another disaster this year, fishers intend to take full advantage of the November run that pulls in all the crab Bay Area residents enjoy at Thanksgiving.
"Everyone's trying to keep up with the Joneses and bringing more pots and more boats. It means the season will not last as long," said
Duncan MacLean, president of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association.
The mad dash for crab can only work to fishers' disadvantage by bringing per-pound prices down, warns Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations.
By some estimates, 70,000 traps get dropped around the commercial season opener. A crab pot can hold 12 to 14 adult crabs, amounting to about 30 pounds.
"If all the production hits the market at once, we'll be in serious trouble," Grader said.
Crabbers across the Bay Area are trying to negotiate a consistent price to start with, but they are at the mercy of the larger boats that work for out-of-state crab processors — companies that ultimately dictate the asking price for crab. Last November, fishers earned $2.25 per pound of Dungeness crab. This year they're hoping for $2.50.
As they race back to the dock in
"People frankly are a little nervous and they're cutting back. There are certain things that seem like luxury items they might not buy," Grader said.
The same thought has occurred to many of the fishers at
"What kind of price can you ask for in an economy like this? It wouldn't surprise me to see more exports this year to
The result could be fewer live crab for sale on boats, in restaurants and at crab stands.
In private discussions, crabbers also worry that the Cosco Busan oil spill may have affected Dungeness crab in ways they can't predict. Not in terms of human health — the crabs were long ago declared safe to eat — but in stunting the growth of young crabs born later in the season.
That's unlikely, said Greg Baker, a local environmental scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Response and Restoration.
"This oil is for the most part not the kind that would have sunk down into the water column," said Baker, whose agency is studying the effects of the spill along with the California Department of Fish and Game.#
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_10890623
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