For many of us, one of the dining delights of the holiday season is a feast of fresh crab caught right here in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Local fishermen and restaurants have long benefitted from the economic boom of holiday seafood sales and many locals relish the opportunity to enjoy a “homegrown” delicacy with visiting friends and family. The iconic Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister, or as they’re called on the dock, “Dungies,” live in nearshore waters from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, all the way south to Point Conception, just north of Santa Barbara. Occasionally, Dungeness crabs are found as far south as Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Their name originates from the Port of Dungeness on the Olympic Peninsula, where they were first harvested commercially.
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The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, a local nonprofit, works to increase community access to healthy, local, sustainably caught seafood while preserving the heritage and rich biodiversity of our region’s fishing economy. The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust is a 10-year-old organization committed to increasing consumer awareness while providing resources for local fishermen, including business and technical support. Melissa Mahoney, the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust executive director, explains that the organization is committed to keeping “local seafood on local plates” by ensuring sustainable fisheries and resilient fishing communities for the future. This fall, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that the commercial Dungeness crab season, which has historically opened on Nov. 15 annually, will not open until early December at the earliest — based on a reassessment of whale entanglement risk.
So, what is happening?
(Courtesy Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust)
Climate change is increasing ocean temperatures, resulting in changes in whale behavior and feeding patterns. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a marine heat wave from 2014 to 2016 caused a 400% increase in whale entanglements in West Coast waters. A UC Santa Cruz study found that the warming ocean led to changes in humpback whale feeding behavior, increasing their overlap with crab season and fishing gear. More whales are entangled in lines because the warmer water shifts whale travel routes, feeding patterns and migration timing. For crabs, the warming water has a cascading effect, changing survival rates of crab larvae reproduction and other negative impacts on our oceans, including loss of dissolved oxygen and overall changes to ocean chemistry.
With the changes in season openings, regulations and migration patterns, local fishing folks are getting creative and making changes to improve their economic resilience in a changing environment. According to Mahoney, Monterey Bay fishermen are committed to ensuring a whale-safe fishery. Local commercial crab fishermen have proactively sought preventative measures and adjusted their schedules, yet many proposed solutions can be cost-prohibitive. Traditional fishing methods include crab pots, approximately 3 feet in diameter, made from wire mesh with two iron weight bars welded to the bottom circular iron frame. Working with the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, local commercial fisheries are working to mitigate future entanglements. Technology companies are trying to create new types of lower-risk traps, this includes ropeless or pop-up gear. There has also been an increase in aerial surveillance of migrating whales to help determine when to launch the season.
Locals who make their livelihood from fisheries are vulnerable to changes in the commercial season. Monterey Bay has a history rooted in fishing as a primary industry. This region is unique because while it previously had a sizeable industrial fleet — our fishing community now primarily consists of many smaller boats. The three seasons of local rockfish, salmon and crab have long been the trifecta for a prosperous livelihood. The challenges have reduced the number of younger generations joining their elders in the fishing industry as they did decades ago. There are now just a few local fishing families, as older generations tell their children to avoid following in their footsteps because they are concerned by the many challenges associated with their income solely dependent on harvesting from the changing sea.
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In October of this year, state Sen. John Laird joined the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. The organization aggregates state fishery data from California, Oregon and Washington, with federal agencies administering federal funds at the state level, and managing grants and projects. They have helped develop monitoring protocols under the experiential monitoring program, acting as an intermediary between National Marine Fisheries Service and regional fisher people. Laird has been instrumental in water policy reform, coastal restoration efforts and environmental protection. As a long-time Monterey Bay area resident, he also has direct experience with the importance of sustainable fishing to our region’s economy and beyond.
Understanding the origins and impact of what we eat and how it fits into the environmental web is paramount to maintaining sustainable food systems. Once the season gets rolling, we should be able to buy Dungeness crab directly from local fishermen off the dock, at local restaurants, grocery stores and fish markets. While I know many of us would like to have our annual crab feasts over the upcoming holidays, I am grateful that there are agencies and individuals dedicated to understanding and mitigating the impacts of climate change and protecting the ocean and its inhabitants. Sustainable practices will help ensure long-term seafood availability for future generations, which can be harvested here in our ocean backyard.
To learn more about the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, visit montereybayfisheriestrust.org/NOAA, and about Whale Observation at fisheries.noaa.gov. Current regulations can be found at wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Inseason.
Tracey Weiss is the executive director of the O’Neill Sea Odyssey. She is working to support the residents of Santa Cruz County with the information that allows them to connect, impact and understand the ocean ecosystem and the regional environment we call home. She can be reached at osoexecdirector@oneillseaodyssey.org.
