For the last couple of days there have been quite a few crab limits coming in. Not just reds, mind you, but Dungeness. One boat yesterday caught three limits of reds and two limits of Dungeness in the bay. Two other boats yesterday and at least one today also had limits of Dungies. At least one couple today had their first boating adventure on the bay (the boat was new to them and this was their first time using it) and they caught fifteen Dungeness inside the bay. Even the snare crew on the beach are doing pretty well. Your results may differ, but it seems like there's a few crab around. When you consider that the norm for February is the worst crabbing of the year, these results are atypical. Yet nobody is complaining. Complaints may start when the trap season shuts down again, though.

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California Department of Fish and Wildlife Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program Update

February 18, 2022

CDFW Director Bonham has completed an assessment of marine life entanglement risk for the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fisheries under the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP). CDFW is issuing a statewide fleet advisory for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery due to a recent humpback whale entanglement, approximately 5 miles west of Cypress Point near Monterey Bay (Fishing Zone 4). The entanglement was first reported in late January involving heavy line from unknown fishing gear and CDFW is encouraging the commercial fleet and all mariners to be on the lookout for any entangled whale in this area and across California waters. If anyone sights an entangled whale, do not approach, or attempt to disentangle, but please immediately report it to the United States Coast Guard or call the Entanglement Reporting Hotline: 1-877-SOS-WHAL or 1-877-767-9425.    Based on recent surveys and historic migration patterns, overall entanglement risk remains low across California waters. CDFW is however issuing this Fleet Advisory for all fishing zones and reminds all in the commercial and recreational fisheries to implement best practices, as described in the Best Practices Guide.

" So the gear is not necessarily crab gear, so it counts less against crabbing. If they find the whale and it is Dungeness crab gear on it, well, our trap season will be over. I do hope the whale gets found and rope gets removed safely, I just also hope that it is someone else's rope. 

      This year's salmon season will be determined soon. The PFMC's Salmon Technical Team will be drafting their "Preseason Report I – Stock Abundance Analysis and Environmental Assessment Part 1 for 2022 Ocean Salmon Fishery Regulations" this week on the 22nd through the 25th. If you want to follow along at home, you can, here:  https://www.pcouncil.org/events/salmon-technical-team-work-session-february-22-25-2022/   Or you can wait for the good stuff at the Annual Salmon Information Meeting on March 2. That meeting will also be streamed. Infor about it can be found here, when they post it:https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Salmon/Preseason

   In other CDFW news, the Fish and Game Commission readopted the emergency ban on hydraulic clam pumps (it looks like a real, final ban is coming. It is drafted but not in play, yet). It also adopted a new limit and season on California grunion. You are now limited to 30 tiny fish and you may collect them in April, May and June. So, thankfully, only the months you might find them on the beach here. The original petition asked for March through August as a closure and, I believe, a ten tiny fish limit, so hey, what do we have to complain about?  As a California sportsman I am learning to sate myself with the crumbs that tumble from their plate.

   And finally, this:"https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=198970&inline" That's the CDFW's tally of last season's fishing in the ocean, by the numbers. The most interesting thing to me was that halibut and perch fishing got combined into the same group and had an average of about nine ounces of fish caught per fishing trip. I did pretty well last year, so I feel kinda bad about the folks shifting the numbers to below one pound per trip. The average return on a tuna trip is 42 pounds. I only landed one 12 pounder for nine days trying, so I guess I helped to balance out Eddie Kim's pile of bluefin. This year will be different (I hope I get a bigger one. Let's go 14#!).