Commercial Crab Fishing Violations On the Rise in California, CDFW Says
Officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) Marine Enforcement Division said March 1 they’ve seen an uptick in the number of commercial Dungeness crab cases in North Coast waters in the past few months.
Since Dec. 9, 2021, there have been seven cases regarding possession of undersize crabs by commercial crab fishermen, according to the CDFW.
“Commercial Dungeness crab fishermen are expected to measure their entire catch and keep only crabs that are equal to or greater than 6 ¼ inches, which is slightly more than the required 5 ¾ width required of recreational crabbers,” officials said in a statement. “There is a provision in the law to authorize possession of no more than one percent of the catch to be undersize.”
In all seven cases, citations were written, t...