FORT BRAGG, CA., 11/2/26 — Fort Bragg’s commercial crab boats won’t fish on Dec. 1. California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife pushed back the commercial Dungeness crab season to at least Jan. 1, 2027, along the whole coast from the Oregon border to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.
The reason is humpback whales. Two humpbacks were confirmed tangled in California commercial Dungeness crab gear in 2026, and five more were tangled in gear nobody could identify, according to a declaration signed Oct. 30 by department Director Meghan Hertel. Under the state’s whale rules, that means the season “shall not open until January 1, 2027,” the declaration says.
Department aerial surveys counted 34 humpbacks on Oct. 15 in Fishing Zone 2, which runs from Cape Mendocino to the Sonoma-Mendocino county line and takes in the whole Mendocino coast, according to the declaration. The next day, surveys counted 38 in Fishing Zone 3, from the county line south to Pigeon Point. The most recent weekly running average from whale-watching trips in Monterey Bay was 15.3 humpbacks, the declaration says.
Sport season opens Nov. 7, with limits
The recreational season still opens Saturday, Nov. 7, in most of the state. But sport crabbers can’t use crab traps until at least Jan. 1, the department said. The trap ban covers the same stretch of coast, from Oregon to Point Conception, as the commercial delay.
Hoop nets and crab snares, also called loop traps, are still allowed. Hoop nets must be serviced at least every two hours and can’t be left alone longer than that, the department said. The state also issued a Fleet Advisory, asking crabbers to avoid setting gear if whales are present.
A toxin closes the coast north of Fort Bragg
North of Fort Bragg, sport crabbing won’t open at all on Nov. 7.
State health officials found high levels of domoic acid in Dungeness crab caught north of Fort Bragg, the department said. Domoic acid is a natural poison made by a single-celled ocean alga called Pseudo-nitzschia. Crab can carry it without getting sick.
State labs tested crab collected Oct. 20 at Usal, a site listed under the port of Fort Bragg, according to an Oct. 30 memo to Hertel from Kristina Thayer, director of the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Half of the six gut samples were over the federal limit, with readings from 8.8 to 99 parts per million and an average of 38, the memo says. The limit for crab guts is anything over 30 parts per million. Three meat samples ranged from 6.6 to 20 parts per million, with an average of 13.
Based on that memo, Hertel delayed the sport season in state waters from Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County south to the southern edge of the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve, just north of Fort Bragg. Taking or keeping Dungeness crab there is against the law until health officials say the danger has passed. The department’s health advisory page lists the same stretch as delayed for commercial crabbing.
Noyo Harbor and the waters south of it are outside that closed area.
At low levels, domoic acid can cause nausea, diarrhea and dizziness, the department said. At higher levels it can cause lasting short-term memory loss and seizures, and it can kill.
For crab caught in waters that are open, state health officials “strongly recommend” that people not eat the guts, often called the “butter,” because they usually hold much more of the toxin than the meat.
Last season also opened late
Last fall the domoic acid closure was broader. In October 2025, the state delayed sport crabbing from the Oregon border all the way south to the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, according to the department’s Whale Safe Fisheries page. That put the whole Mendocino coast off-limits on opening day. The state lifted the Mendocino County sport crabbing closure Dec. 12, 2025, the department’s records show.
The commercial fleet was still on hold after sport crabbing was OKed. On Dec. 19, 2025, the department set a Jan. 5, 2026, opener for Fishing Zones 3, 4 and 5, and held Zones 1 and 2, including the Mendocino coast, until Jan. 15 for crab-quality testing. Those two zones fished under a 15% gear reduction, and from April 30 on, only in water shallower than 30 fathoms, the department’s records show.
What comes next
The department expects its next whale review on or before Dec. 17. Hertel will look at the new data, plus a recommendation from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group, to decide when commercial boats can go out and when sport crabbers can use traps again.
“CDFW remains committed to working collaboratively with all sectors across California to protect whales and turtles from entanglements in fishing gear,” Hertel said in the department’s announcement. “Partnerships are more important than ever as we work together to protect endangered whales and turtles and our fishing communities in the face of increasing disruptions from our changing climate.”
Crabbers can check closures on the department’s Domoic Acid Fishery Closure Information Line at 831-649-2883, or the California Department of Public Health’s biotoxin line at 510-412-4643 or 800-553-4133.