Bay Area commercial Dungeness crab season begins Sunday after delays

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Dungeness crab season in the Bay Area is here again. This year it starts late.

The opening is scheduled for Sunday, January 5. Crab season usually opens in mid-November.

Usually the season opens in mid-November but has been delayed by whale migration.

Crab fisherman Mike Harvie is happy to get back to work.

“I’m excited to finally be able to go,” Harvie said. “I’ve been crabbing for 15 years.”

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Harvie is putting away some of his crab pots.

“We’re allowed to use half of our pots. Those are the extras. I store them in the shed,” Harvie said.

On Thursday, he and his crew loaded up his 58-foot boat – Vaya Con Dios – and set off. They dropped 250 pots to the bottom of the ocean. They will wait until Sunday to start the harvest.

John Barnett is the president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association.

He and his team have already made two trips to get their equipment out.

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“Everybody’s excited. The fishermen are all getting ready. They’re putting bait on the boat,” Barnett said.

The commercial Dungeness crab season usually begins in mid-November. But this has lagged in recent years.

“We had a delay this year because of all the whales and all the problems we had fishing around the whales,” Barnett said.

At Fisherman’s Wharf, people enjoy fresh seafood, including crab from Oregon or Canada. In a few days, this crab will most likely come from the Bay Area.

“They’ll start being out there on the 6th, I imagine – ready to roll,” Harvie said.

“We really appreciate the public’s patience,” Barnett said. “Maybe Sunday night we’ll have crabs in the boat sales. We’ll have crabs in the fish markets. The restaurants will have them. The public will have access to what they expect.”

Fisherman Mike Harvie says the crab harvest is very promising.

“They’re nice this year,” Harvie said.