FORT BRAGG, CA., 11/6/26 — Sport crabbers heading out of Noyo Harbor on Saturday, Nov. 7, can drop hoop nets and crab snares over the side. Their crab traps have to stay home.
California’s sport Dungeness crab season opens Saturday on most of the coast. But the state Department of Fish and Wildlife has banned sport crab traps from the Oregon border to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County until at least Jan. 1, 2027. The department said it acted because of the number of humpback whales tangled in fishing gear this year and the large number of humpbacks across the fishing grounds.
It’s the first time since 2022 that the state has banned sport crab traps on the Mendocino coast at the opener, according to the department’s whale safety records.
Last year, the Mendocino coast didn’t open on opening day at all. High levels of a natural toxin called domoic acid closed sport crabbing from the Oregon border to the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, the records show.
A closed stretch north of town
This year the toxin closure is smaller, but it starts north of Fort Bragg. Sport crabbing stays closed from the Reading Rock marine protected areas in northern Humboldt County south to the southern edge of the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve. The state widened the closure north into Humboldt County on Thursday. Taking or keeping Dungeness crab there is against the law until further notice. Noyo Harbor and the waters south of it are open.
A tiny ocean alga makes domoic acid. Crab can carry it without getting sick. People who eat it can get sick, and at higher levels it can cause lasting short-term memory loss and seizures, and in some cases it can kill, the department said.
State labs found high levels in crab caught Oct. 20 at Usal, north of Fort Bragg. As of Nov. 2, no new crab from that area had been tested, according to the California Department of Public Health’s latest test results. A site needs “two consecutive clean sets” of tests to pass, the results sheet says.
The health department warns people “not to eat any part of sport-harvested Dungeness crab from Cape Mendocino south to Ten Mile State Marine Reserve.” For crab from open waters, it “strongly recommends removing and discarding the viscera,” the guts many people call the butter.
What goes in the boat
A hoop net is a net on a ring. It lies flat on the ocean floor and only holds crabs once it’s lifted, according to state rules. Crabbers must pull each one up and check it at least every two hours. A net left longer than that counts as abandoned and can be seized. North of Point Arguello in Santa Barbara County, there’s no limit on how many hoop nets a person can fish, except on public piers, where the limit is two.
Hoop nets set offshore need a main buoy no bigger than 6 inches across and 14 inches long, marked with the operator’s 10-digit GO ID number from their fishing license, the department’s rules summary says.
A crab snare, also called a loop trap, can have up to six loops. The trap ban still allows snares, hoop nets and catching crab by hand, the department says.
The daily limit is 10 Dungeness crab. Each one must measure at least 5 3/4 inches across the shell, just in front of the points on the sides. Crabbers must carry a measuring device. Anyone 16 or older needs a sport fishing license, except on a public pier.
Charters, weather and what comes next
Anchor Charter Boats in Fort Bragg says on its website that it isn’t running crab trips now and will start the season in December.
The National Weather Service has a small craft advisory for coastal waters from Cape Mendocino to Point Arena until 3 p.m. Saturday. For Saturday, it forecasts northwest wind of 5 to 10 knots and 10-foot seas from the northwest. In Fort Bragg, it calls for partly sunny skies and a high near 63.
The department plans its next whale review for Dec. 15 to 18 and another for Jan. 13 to 15, dates it says could change. At the December review, Director Meghan Hertel will look at the data to decide when sport crabbers can use traps and when the commercial fleet can go out. The commercial season is delayed to at least Jan. 1.
Crabbers can check for closures on the department’s Domoic Acid Fishery Closure Information Line at 831-649-2883.