The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: crab season

  • After Months of Negotiations, Crab Season is Back

    After Months of Negotiations, Crab Season is Back

    It’s officially Dungeness crab season in Humboldt county. Local fishermen have been given the green light to fish for local crab on the bay after a long year of negotiations and COVID. So, what does that exactly mean? The freshest and most decadent crab is now available to Pacific coast natives. The Dungeness is long sought after by food junkies for its richness and the demand hasn’t slowed.

    The season was initially delayed from it’s original Dec. 1 opening when the Department of Fish and Wildlife found that crabs in the area did not weigh enough to carry out the necessary tests for quality.

    “Based on the lack of data and the interest in cooperatively managing the interstate Dungeness crab fishery, I am delaying the opening of Dungeness crab season in northern California,” DFW Director Charlton Bonham said in a press release on Nov 20, 2020.

    Now that the season is up and running, local restaurants across Humboldt county are featuring fresh and local Dungeness crab on their daily menus. If you find yourself in Trinidad, there are a lot of options to choose from.

    Local resident Mary Mignani is on the hunt for the best crab cakes in Humboldt with it being crab season.

    “You have to find the best ones, the best restaurant offering it because crab cakes are really a hit and miss,” Mignani said. “It’s all about the crab and the way it’s prepared, cooked, seasoned, it all makes a difference.”

    Trinidad Bay Eatery offers an array of crab options for dinner. They have crab sandwiches when crab is fresh, crab cakes, seafood platters, and Cioppino, an Italian seafood dish flavored with white wine sauce.

    Trinidad Bay Eatery also offers crab infused breakfast items such as their crab omelet and crab benedict.

    The Lighthouse Grill offers a variety of crab dishes like crab melts and crab cake sandwiches.

    Rita’s Margaritas offers crab tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas with fresh Dungeness crab.

    If you’re feeling adventurous and want to try cooking your own crab, there are plenty of options for that too. Many vendors across Humboldt are offering daily catches of fresh crab by the pound so you can try your hand at it. If you aren’t ready to cook crab on your own, many are offering their cooked crab for sale as well to add to your own homemade dishes.

    If you’re interested in catching your own crab to cook, there are resources for that, too. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is showcasing tutorials on their government website on how to fish and catch Dungeness crab. Along with supplies for the catch, you will need to follow state regulations and obtain a license which you can get locally in Trinidad at Murphy’s Market.

    Whether you’re craving crab on the go, planning for a nice dinner, or spending the day on the pier in search of the rich Dungeness crab, Humboldt has all the options you would need to fulfill your seafood dreams in peak season.

  • Keeping tabs on Dungeness crabs

    Keeping tabs on Dungeness crabs

    Video by Sean Kearns.
  • The North Coast Crab Fleet is geared up

    The North Coast Crab Fleet is geared up

    Standing at the fish counter at Katy’s Smokehouse, you get a sense of the sea around you. The breeze and the roar of the sea is right outside, while the inside is warm. The experience is accompanied by the aroma of smoked fish. If you like fish and crab, there is no place like Katy’s.

    Bob Lake is the owner of Katy’s Smokehouse in Trinidad. He makes his living off of the sea, selling fish at his market. Lake’s routine involves loading and unloading boats and supplying bait to the Trinidad Crab Fleet at the pier, which is located just down the street from his market.

    The North Coast Crab Fleet consists of Eureka, Trinidad and Crescent City combined. The ideal Dungeness crabs have a 25 percent to 28 percent meat-to-shell ratio, but crabs can even get as big as 30 percent, meat per shell. The official ratio for the commercial crab fleet is set at 25 percent meat to shell. People pay good money for Dungeness crabs, and fishermen don’t want to sell anything but the best. A crab with a 25 percent to 28 percent meat-to-shell ratio means a happy customer.

    Fisherman went out Tuesday, Jan. 23 to catch some crabs to send to the processor for meat-to-shell ratio tests. Up until now, the crabs have had a 19 to 20 percent meat-to-shell ratio this season.

    “It would be a waste of a resource, and a travesty, to take these crabs in the condition they are currently in,” Lake said.

    Crab developmental problems have been due to the possibilities of a late molting period and less available food on the ocean floor. The competition for food is a big factor. When crabs get into this state, cannibalism becomes prevalent, and the weak get eaten by the strong.

    “There is just not enough food to keep every crab full,” Lake said.

    Testing protocol states strict testing sites and no selecting of the catch. If the fishermen were to bring in poor crabs and delude the processor, the observers themselves could not afford the cost of doing business. The yield, quality and customers’ perceptions of the crabs are worth the substantial amount of money it costs. These details are all taken into account before the crab season begins. Crab fisherman have to protect the resource and their customers.

    As fishing officially begins, the market sets the price. If the fleet catches a lot of crabs, the price goes down. If more crabs are being caught than can be sold at market, the price will be lowered to allow more people to buy the abundant crabs. If at some point there are not enough crabs, or if the market is sucking them up faster than the fisherman can bring the crabs in, then the price will go up.

    The locally agreed upon ex-vessel price is set by the large buyers and the Fisherman’s Market Association that represents the North Coast Crab Fleet’s three ports in Eureka, Trinidad and Crescent City.

    “The retail price will be around $4.99 per pound,” Lake said. “Canneries and processors pay fish taxes, loading fees, transportation and the employees get paid to cook the crabs.”

    Lake and the crew of the F/V Joie-Lynn, Cary Meyer and Clark Ward, all expect a very good year for crab lovers and the fleet alike.

    “I was born with optimism,” Ward said.

    Optimism swirls aboard Meyer and Ward’s crab fishing vessel, Joie-Lynn. Meyer and Ward said the crabs were caught, tested and showed 25 percent meat-to-shell last week, meaning the crab season can get under way as soon as a dock price per pound for Dungeness crab is set.

    This story was updated on Feb. 1, 2018 from its original publication on Jan. 23, 2018 per request by the author.