Tension grows among Bay Area crab fishermen to find whale-safe alternative crabbing methods
Less then a week before Dec. 25th and the local tradition of Christmas crab is again off the holiday menu this year as the Bay Area's commercial crab fishermen eagerly await the go-ahead for the start of yet another delayed season.
State regulators say the prevalence of marine life including humpback whales is too high for crab fishing to begin.
The delays have become a consistent problem for crabbers who traditionally would get the green light to start fishing in mid-November. Since 2018, the protection of whales has caused a delay of the commercial crab season.
Now there's a growing tension among crab fishermen about alternative methods of whale-safe fishing to offset the losses of increasingly shortened seasons.
Dick Ogg is a crab fisherman who also spends countless hours driving up and down the coast, advocating for others in the business without getting paid.
"I have fished and dove along the coastline here since I was in my early 20s," said Ogg.
Fishing is in the 72-year-old's veins. Between calls with regulators and industry decision makers, Ogg prepares his own crab pots, employing just two deckhands who work in the side-yard of his home to save costs.
But the Bodega Bay resident is concerned about a years-long push to promote high-tech "pop-up" fishing gear as the solution for whale-safe harvesting in the spring after the season ends.
"I don't want this to become a boutique fishery," said Ogg.
CBS News Bay Area got a demonstration of how the technology by Subsea Sonics and Guardian Ropeless works in 2023.
The ropeless technology allows crab fishermen to set traps without a vertical line, which is the main concern for whale safety and why the season has seen significant delays in recent years.
But that technology comes at a steep price. Ogg is critical of the tens of thousands of dollars fishermen have to shell out, especially for the crab fishermen who can least afford it.
Crab fisherman Bradley Titus says increasingly shortened seasons are becoming untenable.
"The money was a lot more consistent. It's definitely a struggle," said Titus.
Besides questioning the reliability of pop-up gear and self-reported numbers during limited test runs, Ogg believes there's a more cost-efficient, whale-safe approach called "grappling."
"It would catch some place in one of these lines. It would catch here, pull and then begin to lift the pot up and we would bring the pot up to the boat from there," said Ogg.
To work, several pots strung together would be dropped to the ocean floor with locations marked using GPS technology. No vertical lines are used that could threaten whale entanglements.
Days later, a "grapple hook" would essentially pick up the pots for the fishermen to haul into their boats.
"We want it to work for everybody," said Ogg.
This method would eliminate the need for crabbers to purchase the costly pop-up gear, but is not currently sanctioned by officials.
Kim Sawicki is founder of Sustainable Seas Technology, which has been tracking the use of the emerging technology.
"They're really excited about the gear. They know that it's reliable. They're happy with it. They're comfortable with it, and it helped them to keep paying their bills last spring," said Sawicki.
20 fishing vessels were given state permits by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to use the pop-up gear and sell live crab at a premium with only a handful of vessels fishing this past spring.
The rest of the fleet in the area estimated by fishing officials to be more than 500, sat on the sidelines without a chance to catch and sell Dungeness Crab.
Sawicki says self-reported data shows a 98% success rate for the gear and rope deployment..
But the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the largest commercial fishing trade association on the West Coast, has deep reservations about expanding the experimental fishing permits for what they say is costly pop-up gear.
"It's not supposed to be a way to keep fishing when the season is closed, or to create a new fishery for a small group of guys to make money," said Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations President Lisa Damrosch.
For fishermen like Ogg's deckhands who are saving up to one day captain their own boats, they're hoping regulators approve 'grappling' permits, to see if this might be the more cost-efficient solution for all.
"The reason I am so driven to try and keep this industry alive is because of these two boys that are working here on this gear," said Ogg.
Ogg knows his fishing days are limited, but he's fighting to give small fishermen without a voice, a chance to compete on a level playing field, to make a modest living, and a chance to keep fishing.
These alternative crab fishing methods such as pop-up gear fishing or grappling would only be used in the spring once the primary crab season ends.
