The effects of the domoic acid contamination plaguing the Dungeness crab fishery on the U.S. west coast have been fairly severe, according to an update relayed to the area’s joint fisheries committee last week.
Although many bans on crab fishing are being lifted following the delay of the crabbing season as a result of the acidic contamination, many fishers and experts say the damage done thus far may be irreversible, according to Fox 40.
"We've lost the holidays, the Super Bowl, the beginning of Chinese New Year holiday, which has become a big crab buying holiday, and there's no way we can really recoup," said crab fisherman Ben Pratt, who fishes out of Half Moon Bay, to Fox 40.
What’s more, for the several crabbers who augment their income with salmon fishing later in the season, a drought in the area is also making the outlook for salmon quite bleak. Many crabbers are in danger of losing their homes, vessels and have turned to food banks for groceries as a result of the fishery’s delayed start and contamination.
"It's kind of bull---- that people whose job it is to provide food have to ask for food," said Lori French, whose husband, son and nephew are all crab fishermen, to Fox 40.
A letter from Gov. Jerry Brown to the federal government requesting federal aid for area crabbers exists as a point of hope for the fishermen. Brown’s letter declares the domoic acid contamination a “fisheries disaster.”
"We've never seen anything like this, at least in modern history," concluded committee co-chair Senator Mike McGuire of Eureka, to Fox 40.
