#dungeness-crab

#dungeness-crab

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Bay Area crab lovers rejoice! After weeks of delays, fresh off the boat Dungeness crab sales started Sunday. Local crabbers are selling their catches directly to customers again this year at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. The first Dungeness crab catch just arrived at Piers 45 and 47 at Fisherman's Wharf. A steady stream of Bay Area crab lovers was eager to buy.

The Bay Area's commercial Dungeness crab season can begin Jan. 5, state officials announced Friday, now that many of the migrating behemoths of the sea have safely made their way down the coast. The decision comes after a series of delays since November meant to protect whales from getting tangled in fishing lines, and it comes with a key restriction: Fleets will have to operate under a 40 percent trap reduction.

When we caught up with crab fisherman Brand Little a few months back, he was unloading an unusual late spring catch. Unusual, because the season has been essentially cut short for the last several years, to protect migrating whales and sea turtles from being entangled in the vertical ropes that float above the crab traps. But this load was caught with a different kind of device, known as a rope-less or pop-up trap.