Crab season opens with frustration in San Mateo County

Local fishermen like Brittany Binkley, who fishes out of Pillar Point Harbor with her husband Adam Johnson, are worried the combination of the late start and half pots will make it difficult to turn a profit.

“It’s half the time and now it’s half the pots so they are really cutting into our livelihood,” said Binkley while she fixed bait bags for the crab pots, known as chewy’s, on their boat the Adventure.

Last year, Binkley said they sold their catch to fish canneries for $3 a pound with crabs weighing around 2 pounds on average. But this year, the dock rumor is that canneries will offer $1 per pound. Given how tough and dangerous the job is, Binkley said crabers should be able to live comfortably and not paycheck to paycheck like they are. 

Daniel Thoresen, who also fishes out of Pillar Point, said he is frustrated because he and his crew are not sure how much the crab will sell for and the delayed season pushed the fishermen deeper into winter.

“It’s putting us into bad weather and we are fishing on an open ticket,” Thoresen said. “We don’t even know our pricing yet.”

Thoresen said his love of fishing is the reason he bought a boat over buying a home, however, the past three to four years of delays and shortened seasons are making it hard to pay bills.

Until the crab season was delayed, Thoresen was hoping to upgrade his boat this year. Now he said if he sold his boat he wouldn’t go back to commercial crabbing because it isn’t worth it anymore.

“Most people around the dock would sell their boat and get out of crab fishing for good if someone made them the right offer,” Thoresen said. “None of us own boats because we don’t like them.”

Fellow Pillar Point Fisherman and liveaboarder Kerry Davis said that he won’t be crab fishing this year. Instead, he said he will only go out to help some of his crab fishing buddies this season because the risk is no longer worth the reward of doing the job full time, noting it is too dangerous and the pay isn’t worth it. He was a crab fisherman for years but now he solely fishes for kingfish on a skiff boat and disposes of septic waste from boats to make ends meet. 

Davis asserts the delays are due to CDFW being sued by the Center for Biodiversity and argued the organization should be on the hook for compensating crabers for taking away people’s livelihoods and devaluing investments into boats and gear

“I can see why they are trying to save the whales. … That’s all well and good but why doesn’t the Center for Biodiversity reimburse all these commercial fishermen for their lost income,” Davis said. “To me, that’s not fair.” 

CDFW Director Chuck Bonham will reevaluate the commercial trap reduction on Jan. 18, according to a press release. Joanna Grebel, a spokesperson for the CDFW, said in an email that CDFW can’t predict a closing date to the commercial season.

In the meantime, Binkley said the best way for county residents to support the local fishermen is to come to the Pillar Point dock on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. and they can buy the crab or any fish they catch fresh from the source.