California’s commercial Dungeness crab season delayed again to protect humpback whales

The beginning of the industrial Dungeness crab season in California has been delayed additional to guard humpback whales from changing into entangled in entice and buoy strains.

The state Division of Fish and Wildlife mentioned Wednesday that industrial crabbing can be delayed till at the least Dec. 30. The state of affairs can be reassessed on or earlier than Dec. 22.

It’s the third delay for the beginning of the industrial season, which historically begins Nov. 15 for waters between the Mendocino County line and the border with Mexico.

The crab business is considered one of California’s main fisheries and the shellfish is very well-liked across the holidays.

Geoff Shester of the nonprofit conservation group Oceana recommended officers for extending the delay.

“Elevated whale entanglement danger is changing into the brand new norm within the fall and spring months, so the crab fishing season with typical vertical line gear is more likely to get shorter and shorter,” Shester mentioned in a press release.

Humpback whales can get caught within the vertical ropes related to heavy industrial traps, which they’ll drag round for months, leaving them injured, starved or so exhausted that they’ll drown.

The fish and sport division mentioned final month that there have been at the least 15 confirmed entanglements of humpback whales by fishing gear off California this 12 months, together with three involving Dungeness crab gear.

Humpback whales migrate north yearly from Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula the place they beginning calves. In spring, summer time and fall the humpbacks feed on anchovies, sardines and krill off the California coast earlier than heading again south.