Two Bay Area fishermen push for low-tech redesign of crab pots to revitalize their threatened fishery while protecting migratin

Two Bay Area fishermen push for low-tech redesign of crab pots to revitalize their threatened fishery while protecting migratin

By Roxanne Hoorn Correspondent

Source: santacruzsentinel

12/31/2022

Credit: Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group

As whale populations swell along the California coast, Dungeness crab fishermen are struggling to stay afloat.

Fear of entangling whales in a minefield of ropes extending from traps on the ocean floor to buoys floating on the surface has forced state regulators to delay the traditional Nov. 15 start of the commercial crabbing season year after year. This year alone it was delayed several times because of the continuing presence of migrating whales and finally opened Saturday — limited to half the usual number of crab pots.

In response to the dwindling season, crab fishermen and scientists have been working furiously to come up with solutions to the problem.

One new high-tech design being tested bundles the ropes with crab pots so that the ropes pop up to the surface only when triggered by a timer or a sound alert sent from fishing boats so crews can quickly retrieve the pots.

But two veteran Bay Area fishermen, Brand Little and Steve Melz, have also come up with a potential low-tech solution already available in their boatyards.

Arguing that developing expensive gadgetry is overthinking the solution, they’ve crafted a simple modification of the traditional crab pot that they say could put the nostalgic delicacy back on holiday menus as soon as next year.

“We have to adapt or die,” Little said.