Current:Home > ScamsCalifornia’s commercial Dungeness crab season delayed for the sixth year in a row to protect whales-LoTradeCoin
California’s commercial Dungeness crab season delayed for the sixth year in a row to protect whales
View Date:2024-12-23 20:02:01
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The start of the commercial Dungeness crab season in California has been delayed for the sixth year in a row to protect humpback whales from becoming entangled in trap and buoy lines.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife said commercial crabbing will be delayed until at least Dec. 1. The situation will be reassessed on or before Nov. 17.
It’s the latest delay for the start of the commercial season, which traditionally begins in mid-November for waters between the Mendocino county line and the border with Mexico.
“Large aggregations of humpback whales continue to forage between Bodega Bay and Monterey and allowing the use of crab traps would increase the risk of an entanglement in those fishing zones,” said Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said in a statement Friday.
The recreational take of Dungeness crab using traps will be temporarily restricted in some areas when the recreational season opens Nov. 4, officials said. Recreational crabbers will be able to use other methods, including hoop nets and crab snares.
The commercial crab industry is one of California’s major fisheries and the shellfish is especially popular around the holidays.
Humpback whales can get caught in the vertical ropes connected to heavy commercial traps, which they can drag around for months, leaving them injured, starved or so exhausted that they can drown.
Humpback whales migrate north annually from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula where they birth calves. In spring, summer and fall the humpbacks feed on anchovies, sardines and krill off the California coast before heading back south.
veryGood! (715)
Related
- GreenBox Systems will spend $144 million to build an automated warehouse in Georgia
- Love Is Blind's Bliss Poureetezadi Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Husband Zack Goytowski
- Colts owner Jim Irsay says he was profiled by police for being 'a rich, white billionaire'
- Sobering climate change report says we're falling well short of promises made in Paris Climate Agreement
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor to step down at end of academic year
- Listeria outbreak linked to recalled peaches, plums and nectarines leaves 1 dead, 10 sick
- Taylor Swift Shakes Off Wardrobe Malfunction by Throwing Broken Louboutin Heel Into Eras Tour Crowd
- Why A$AP Rocky Says Raising 2 Kids With Rihanna Is Their Best Collab Yet
- Jason Statham Shares Rare Family Photos of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Their Kids on Vacation
- Love Is Blind's Bliss Poureetezadi Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Husband Zack Goytowski
Ranking
- Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn Coming Out of Retirement at 40
- Trump said the border wall was unclimbable. But hospitals are full of those who've tried.
- A 2-year-old is dead and 8 people are missing after a migrant boat capsized off Italy’s Lampedusa
- The Excerpt podcast: Did gun violence activist Jose Quezada, aka Coach, die in vain?
- Up to 20 human skulls found in man's discarded bags, home in New Mexico
- Alabama inmate asks judge to block first nitrogen gas execution
- Black Friday Flash Sale: Peter Thomas Roth, Apple, Tarte, Serta, Samsung, Skechers, and More Top Brands
- Dogs seen nibbling on human body parts at possible clandestine burial site in Mexico
Recommendation
-
Will Trump’s hush money conviction stand? A judge will rule on the president-elect’s immunity claim
-
Gun battles in Mexican city of Cuernavaca leave 9 dead, including 2 police, authorities say
-
Deliveroo riders aren’t entitled to collective bargaining protections, UK court says
-
As much as 1.1 million gallons of oil leaked from pipeline near Louisiana, Coast Guard says
-
Shawn Mendes quest for self-discovery is a quiet triumph: Best songs on 'Shawn' album
-
Chicago prepares for Macy's parade performance, summer tour with EWF: 'We're relentless'
-
Democratic division blocks effort to end Michigan’s 24-hour wait for an abortion
-
Tom Brady decries NFL's quality of play: 'A lot of mediocrity'