Dungeness crabbers off Northern California must cease fishing by Friday after regulators determined incidental whale entanglements from gear had exceeded state-imposed limits.
“Upon evaluation of the management considerations pursuant to [California law], I have determined that the management action … protects humpback whales based on the best available science,” state Fish and Wildlife Department Director Charlton Bonham said in a statement released last Friday.
California law requires a fishing season closure or other protective action if humpback whale entanglements exceed a running average of two incidents over a three-year period. Humpback whales are protected under federal law.
The closure, which takes effect Friday at 6 p.m. Pacific time, applies to the two northernmost fishing areas off the state’s coast from Oregon-California border to the Mendocino-Sonoma county line. The state’s four other fishing zones, from Sonoma County to the U.S.-Mexico border, were closed between mid-April and May 1 to protect humpback whales.
