Tuesday, 13 November 2007 10:35

Crab Season Delated Indefinately

Holiday cooks may have to look for a substitute for their favorite crab recipes -- Commercial crabbers set to begin their season this week voted Saturday to delay the opening of crab season and are asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to close the waters outside the Golden Gate to the take of Dungeness crab by sport fishermen, as well. Captains and crew from commercial crabbing boats met in San Francisco to talk about the impacts of 58-thousand gallons of heavy oil into San Francisco Bay after a ship crashed into the Bay Bridge. The oil has spread to beaches all along the San Francisco waterfront and surged out the Golden Gate, fouling a 40-mile stretch of shoreline. As of Sunday morning, the mess has contaminated at least 23 beaches in the region, and killed or injured hundreds of birds.

. After their meeting, a spokesman for the commercial crabbers said, "We are asking for the immediate closure of both commercial and sport crabbing. And we are asking for immediate action from the governor." According to the San Francisco Chronicle, some sport fishing party-boat operators, who depend on crabbing for their business in the winter months weren’t happy with the action, saying they wouldn’t bring in contaminated crabs. Though there probably are areas of ocean free of fuel over the local crabbing grounds, almost all commercial crabbing boats rely on pumping in ocean water and eventually bay water to keep their catch alive. "If there's even the slightest taint of fuel either on the crab or in the holding tanks, we won't touch it because we won't be able to sell it," said a seafood processor at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. "The customer will not buy it and we wouldn't expect them to." Seafood processors and wholesalers already have live Dungeness crab that has been trucked in from the Pacific Northwest but are doubtful they will have enough to meet holiday demand. As of Saturday evening, there was no official response from the governor's office. For now, the sport season for crab remains open, pending recommendation by the office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the Department of Health Services. A San Francisco Chronicle story.