With no season, crabbers are now used to the delay

“Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the biggest sale days for crabs,” he said. “So the fishermen are losing out on two big paydays, and so they’re suffering from that — and then New Year’s, too.” 

In prior years, Dungeness crabbing season typically opened around November, but 2025 marks the fifth consecutive year that fishers grabbing crabs for profit won’t be allowed onto the water in that time frame.

That’s because of the entanglement risk to humpback whales off the California coast, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton Bonham said in a letter Oct. 24. 

Per CDFW directive, the next risk assessment for humpback whale entanglement will be conducted on or before Dec. 19, but Pruett said the season isn’t expected to open until Jan. 2, 2026. Last year, commercial crabbing season opened in Half Moon Bay on Jan. 5, with a 50% trap reduction. 

The restrictions cut down on profitable fishing times when crabs are most prolific, Half Moon Bay fisher Barry Day said. 

“We’re losing time on the water,” Day said. “We had seven months of crab fishing, what we can do now, it’s down to a month and a half, two months at most.” 

If it were up to him, he said, humpback whales — whose populations have been increasing in recent years — would be delisted as an endangered species but, as it stands, dealing with regulatory bodies has now been an expected aspect of being a fisher. 

“Become a lawyer,” Day jokingly advised young fishers. “Being on the ocean now, you need to be lawyer, with all the regulations.” 

While crabbing technologies that don’t cause an entanglement risk to humpback whales are being explored, Pruett said, delays will likely be in place for the foreseeable future. 

“Until we can figure out how to fish crab and not entangle whales, I think the delays are here to stay,” he said. 

Recreational crabbing in the area, however, has been open since Nov. 1 — unlike other areas of northern California, which experienced recreational fishing delays due to high levels of domoic acid in Dungeness crabs, per a CDFW press release Oct. 24. 

The good news? Traps brought in on recreational crabbing trips have been filled up to the limits with good-sized stock, Pruett said. 

Day concurred that when the season eventually opens, the buyers will still flock to crabbing boats along the Half Moon Bay Pillar Point Harbor. 

“If we start in January, people come — because they’re the best quality,” he said.