Crab strike over

Crabs going into the freezer will cause the price to drop as much as 50 cents per pound, said Joe Cincotta, general manager of Pacific Seafoods Company’s operation in San Francisco.

"If the pound production backs up and we have to start freezing, then we’ll stop buying crabs at $1.75,” Cincotta said regarding the amount of Dungeness crabs that can be distributed live for the fresh market, "It depends on consumer buying and the volume brought in. We’ll know within the next three to four days.”

But fishermen are hopeful that $1.75 will hold through Christmas since the central fishery is currently the main market for Dungeness crabs now that the fishery in Northern California is closed until Dec. 15, and the tribal fishery in Washington is winding down. During the strike, retailers sold Dungeness crabs from Canada and Washington tribal sources which arrive in the Bay Area live or processed. Cincotta maintains there is no difference in taste or quality but fishermen strongly disagree.

Last week, the California Department of Fish and Game postponed the Crescent City opener for Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties until Dec. 15 because of the soft-shell condition of crabs said Department of Fish and Game Marine Biologist Peter Kalvass. It is assumed the Oregon fishery is also closed.

The postponement was a factor in getting buyers to agree with the fishermen’s price said Duncan MacLean, president of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen’s Marketing Association. They were paid $1.75 last year, and despite the higher costs of fuel (at $3 a gallon), insurance, bait and crab pots, it was unlikely they would get a higher price.

Oregon-based Pacific Seafoods Company offered to pay $1.65 per pound on Nov. 14 with smaller buyers in San Francisco falling in step with what some have described as the Wal-Mart of seafood distribution in the West. With a fleet of refrigerated trucks and processing plants, the volume of product the vertically integrated Pacific Seafoods Company is able to distribute in an area is enough to move markets. The fishermen had 48 hours to accept the offer before the Wednesday deadline for publishing advertisements in the Sunday newspaper, Cincotta said. They had to know if there would be fresh crabs available for Thanksgiving. But the San Francisco Crab Boat Owner’s Association declined the offer, and Pacific Seafoods Company rescinded its offer and cancelled its advertisement, in effect, leaving the San Francisco association with no offers.

In Half Moon Bay, local buyers urged the fishermen to go fishing at a Nov. 17 meeting. They had a market order of $1.75 since before the strike, and the Fishermen’s Marketing Association of Bodega Bay had buyers willing to pay $1.85. But thousands of crab pots stacked on boats and docks in San Francisco were poised and ready to go. Half Moon Bay and Bodega Bay were uncertain how long the boats would stay tied up in San Francisco, and possibly undercut their agreements with local buyers. The two ports stood in solidarity with San Francisco. The entire coast would have one price or no one would fish.

The decision was wearing on many as Thanksgiving loomed and expenses mounted for those who lived on boats tied up at the docks in San Francisco.

"We’ve been held hostage,” said Forrest Wooden, owner of a crab boat based in the northern fishery. He resented being portrayed as a large boat owner who takes all the crab and leaves without contributing to the local economy. "We buy diesel, dinner and groceries. We do our laundry here and buy Christmas presents. I spend more here than back home. We shop at the gear store and buy electronic equipment. The local mechanics work on our boats. We just want the true story out there.”

When the Department of Fish and Game announced its decision two days before Thanksgiving, the lucrative Bay Area market for live crabs for the holiday was lost to the fishermen on strike. A handful of boats — Paloma, Shellfish, Lady Renee, Stacy Joanne and two unconfirmed boats not anchored at Pillar Point Harbor went fishing much to the chagrin of those who stayed on shore. The Stacy Joanne had a change of heart and pulled in its crab pots.

"I really get tired of hearing what is not true,” Cincotta said regarding the last time $1.75 was paid for crabs which was in 1985. "They fail to mention that within the last 10 years, crabs have been trucked live from the north. The trucking, air freight, the quality of work has improved, so that almost daily trucks arrive with fresh crabs. In 1985, there were thousand of pounds [not millions]. Crab was $3.50 to $4 a pound. There was no huge Indian fishery. No Canadian fishery. Air and freight was not as they are now.”

Cincotta said next year, Pacific Seafoods Company will make agreements with its own vessels — private individuals who have agreed to fish for them — before next season and not negotiate with the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. Though the company’s fleet of independent owners respected the strike and stayed tied up, Cincotta views the strike as a ploy to keep the bigger boats from fishing. The fair start law passed by the California Legislature requires travelers who fish in the central fishery to wait 30 days before they fish in the northern fishery if the Crescent City opener is officially delayed.

Cincotta said the issue between large boat owners who fish up and down the coast and small boat owners has been made by newcomers to the fishing industry.

"This has become politicalized within the past five or six years by the liberals who view the Bay Area as their private bath tub,” Cincotta said whose grandfather started the Alioto Lazio Fish Company in 1908. "My passion started when I was nine years old working on a boat. I’ve known every character on the wharf — grandfathers, uncles, cousins. You work all your life. Not someone who worked at something else and now work as a fisherman.”

For information regarding crab sales from boats, call the Pillar Point Harbor Fish Sales Hotline at (650) 726-8724

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