The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has decided to close part of its commercial Dungeness crab fishery to protect whales from entanglement in fishing gear, although crabbing will be allowed to continue in the state’s three northernmost fishing zones.
Early closures and delayed starts to the season due to the presence of whales – which can be entangled in the vertical lines used in pot fisheries such as Dungeness crab – have become a regular occurrence in recent years. The 2024-2025 season was delayed several weeks due to the presence of humpback and gray whales, only opening the southernmost four fishing zones on 5 January 2025, once state regulators determined enough whales had left the area. The two remaining zones in the North opened their season a bit over a week later on 15 January.
Now, the state is set to close the southern half of the state to Dungeness crab fishing after discovering more than a dozen whales in waters being fished.
“On March 25, 2025, a Department aerial survey documented a total of 16 humpback whales within Fishing Zone 4,” CDFW Director Charlton Bonham said in an announcement. “Pursuant to [state regulations], I must implement a Fishing Zone closure or other protective management action in the commercial Dungeness crab fishery.”
On 15 April, the state will close Fishing Zones 4, 5, and 6, which encompass state waters from Pigeon Point south to the state’s border with Mexico. Fishing Zones 1, 2, and 3 will remain open, although regulators are implementing a 30-fathom depth constraint for traps for those zones.
Conservation NGO Oceana criticized the state for waiting so late in the season to close Dungeness crab fishing and for keeping the Northern zones open.
“California’s plan for reducing whale entanglements is not working. Keeping the Bay Area and Northern California crab season open right now presents an extreme risk to endangered whales – with very low reward – that will ultimately hurt California fishing communities in the long-term,” Oceana California Campaign Director Geoff Shester said in a statement.
Shester also criticized the state government for waiting until whales have returned before closing the fishery, increasing the likelihood of entanglements.
“Year after year, the commercial Dungeness crab fishery has stayed open too late into the season, resulting in excessive entanglements of humpback whales in vertical fishing lines as the animals return to feed in the highly productive waters off the state, putting the long-term prospects for both the fishery and recovering whale populations at risk. By the time the whales return in large numbers, it is already too late,” Shester said. “Based on the Department’s own data, in the last three seasons, 33 humpback whales out of a total of 38 were first sighted entangled after the central California crab season closed. This repeated pattern of waiting too long to close the fishery is harming endangered whale populations and is a disservice to local fishing communities.”
Instead of waiting for the whales to arrive to close the fishery, Oceana wants California to set a shorter fixed season, closing the fishery before whales arrive.
“Once the season is closed to conventional crab gear, we support a continued springtime crab fishery using innovative, whale-safe pop-up fishing gear,” Shester said. “Following expanded testing this spring, the gear will be ready for authorization by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which would make it available to the entire commercial crabbing fleet next spring.”
