A local crabber sets out from Trinidad Harbor with the first set of pots for the 2024 season. | File photo courtesy Matt Filar.

###

Almost time to pull out your bibs, cover your table with absorbent newsprint and melt a stick of garlic butter: Dungeness crab will soon return to markets and docks near you.

This morning, the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, which represents local, independent boat captains, agreed to a negotiated price of $4.75 per pound for the succulent crustaceans, association President Harrison Ibach told the Outpost on Friday. 

“We finally got some resolution here,” Ibach said. 

Following months of uncertainty, the opening of the local commercial crabbing season was delayed due to elevated levels of domoic acid. (The rest of the state got the green light earlier this month.) A week ago, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife announced that the North Coast season could finally open today, Jan. 30, preceded by a 64-hour gear setting period starting Tuesday morning. 

However, Ibach said local crabbers “weren’t entirely pleased” with the price being offered by Pacific Choice Seafood, which negotiates on behalf of itself and other major seafood buyers/processors.

These annual negotiations — which typically establish the price along the West Coast from San Francisco to Washington state — sometimes result in strikes. This year, the haggling only postponed the season opener by a few days.

“Right before it was time to set the gear, we decided [to keep negotiating} since we knew we were the last opener,” Ibach said. “We were hoping to achieve a slightly higher price — closer to last year’s.”

They didn’t quite get there. Last year’s mark for Dungeness was $5.75 per pound. The initial offer this year was $4.50, and the marketing association convinced buyers to increase that by a quarter per pound — “enough to inspire a start in hopes of it going up shortly after starting,” Ibach said.

There are currently about 18 crabbing vessels in Crescent City, plus plenty more in Eureka and Trinidad Harbor, along with some out-of-state boats waiting to participate in the last section of coast to open. 

“We’re gonna set gear tomorrow at 7 a.m.,” Ibach said. “Even though the season technically opened already, we have a gentlemen’s agreement to start running the gear Sunday night.”

That means crabs will probably start being hauled ashore on Monday and available dockside and in local markets by Monday or Tuesday.

Ibach said everyone’s relieved that the domoic acid levels are no longer a health concern and that the coast is clear of whales, another factor that can cause delays. 

“These guys are very excited to get to work and start selling some product,” he said.

###

CORRECTION: This story initially understated the number of crabbing vessels awaiting the season’s opening in North Coast ports.

###

PREVIOUSLY