A Tangle Entraps Local Crabbers Even Though They Contend They Aren’t the Problem
The article below is originally from the North Coast Journal, read the entire piece here or get the flavor of it below and click through at the bottom if you need to know more.
At the April 9 Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting, the security check-in station resembled a metropolitan airport with a long line of people stretched out the courthouse doors and halfway down the stairs to Fifth Street. All seats in the chamber were filled, the space between the chairs and the wall was filled with people standing, and others waited outside the door for a chance to speak.The source of the commotion was a sudden and unexpected closure of the Dungeness crab fishery. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife had ordered all crab fishermen throughout the state to remove their gear from the ocean by April 15.The supervisors had prepared a resolution of support for the crab fishermen, which was supposed to appear on the consent calendar, where routine or non-controversial matters are collectively approved with a single vote and without discussion. However, Supervisor Rex Bohn removed the resolution from the consent calendar and opened it for conversation, giving an opportunity for members of the audience to speak.A truck unloads crab pots at the Trinidad Pier.[Photo by Elaine Weinreb]
For the next hour, an array of commercial fishermen and their supporters, ranging in age from grizzled old-timers to fresh-faced teenagers, told the supervisors how they had suddenly and without warning lost their sole means of support.
The underlying issue was the fact that whales in some parts of the Pacific, occasionally get entangled in crab gear. Nearly all the entanglements have occurred hundreds of miles south of Humboldt County, but the broad hand of the state does not appear to be sensitive to geography.
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Where was the outrage when the vast majority of this county’s residents lost THEIR sole source of income?!?
Sorry fishermen – if your industry drove 90% of this economy, you STILL wouldn’t gain ANY traction.
Just ask anyone here who was supporting themselves and/or their families 2 years ago, and no longer can. (That’s just about everyone, by the way…)
You’re wasting your time & energy trying to change things. Just find a new career, like the rest of us have had to do.
Thank you. Your comment is prudent.
First there is the apparently small consideration among the constant complainers as to LEGAL livelihood. Pot growers were taking huge profits illegally and built their livelihoods on the large profits of that illegality, thumbing their noses at what the considered the pathetic fools not doing so. That they no longer were allowed to do that without permits that ate into this profitability is the total opposite of people who historically tried complying with expensive regulation, complied with permitting requirements. The first group created the criminal free-for-all that has caused a lot of suffering and has blamed everyone else for the mess not resolved to their satisfaction. The second group tried very hard for decades to cooperate only to have those same people they worked with suddenly pull the rug out from underneath their feet without the years long warning pot growers arrogantly decided could be ignored as they had ignored the law for decades. Pot growers- it’s not always all about you.
But…but….they can’t afford their huge grow dozers anymore! They don’t have enough cash to flaunt it on social media with their pounds and jewelry on full display!! They’re the victims here man!!
I think some still do but others are just angry over the loss of a regulation free, Dukes-of-Hazard fantasy life.
But, but….they spent many dollars, which is what keeps our local economy going. Look around and pay attention to all the little businesses and nonprofits that can no longer make it. The loss of those black market dollars is having a profound impact
Which nonprofits?
That’s what s/he’s talking about. When it’s the first time you have to live like other people it can come as a bit of a shock. I’m sure they don’t know why we put up with it.
Nailed it, just another nail in the coffin. Can Humboldt catch a break? So discouraging to hard working people.
Well said local skeptic/ these politicians are really looking out for their constituents aren’t they!!! Lol. Its bizarre how they expect us to survive taking all our means away from us.its definitely time for NEW REPRESENTATION!!!! and fish and wildlife has become the sole enemy of the people of nor cal. WHAT’S NEXT they’ve stolen our industrys,theyve stolen our water,they’ve stolen our civil rights,they’ve illegally extorted a majority of us,they’ve trampled on the constitution to do so. WAKE UP PEOPLE WE ARE HEADED DOWN A DARK PATH HERE !!!!!!!!!!
No weed no fish, only heroine and meth sales to support humboldt .
Humboldt County has truly become the Appalachia of California.
We have always been …..
I don’t get it. Every year the majority of commercial crabbers are don’t by April 1st and are hauling their gear either north or south for storage based on the predicted movement. when I start fishing in May there is no gear out there. political drama has taken over America.
What routes do you take? Heading north or south out of the harbor entrance there are miles of crab buoys into August every year. I know this because I have better vision than my friend who pilots the boat, so I have to watch for the buoys.
I go south to the cape and the amount of deliric gear is astounding.
Season was delayed this year.
it was delayed last year. I brought home empty jumbos last year, this year was better meat wise.
Gosh. You can no longer operate your resource extraction unchecked.
Feel sorry for all the creatures and all the land you have destroyed while thinking you could do this in perpetuity.
You get no sympathy from many of us, believe me.
Hardly unchecked resource extraction, but licensed and controlled. You may prefer to eat grass, but MANY like to eat crab, which are a plentiful source of protein.
Crabs shells are getting thinner.
There not the problem. Left/liberal enviro/dipsticks are the problem. Save America and in-prison the tyrants
Dipstick here, don’t kill the messenger…if the oil is low, that’s not the fault of the dipstick.
Besides your comment making NO sense (Tyrants? WHO is in the Oval Office?) Perhaps get a life and maybe read a regulation son. Yeah, fuck all other life on this planet right? (Or just keep hating your neighbors and fellow Americans like Kellyanne wants you to).
From the people who brought you the Marbled Murrelet sham……the Gray Whale and Leatherback Sea Turtle sham. Environmental litigation is a for-profit business. File a lawsuit, issue funding appeals, get big checks from the guilty filthy rich, demand “legal expenses” from court settlements, rinse, repeat. Merit of claims does not matter.
spend some time on the water and get back to us.
Nailed it. CDFW has activists working for them that push the lawsuits from the activist end and then embrace it at the regulatory end. Talk about conflict of interest
Some of the most outrageously unprofessional, dishonest, and power hungry people I have ever encountered.
people are the enemy of the people. poisoning ocean and land. greed and thoughtless unrelenting destruction.
The crab fishermen are suing the oil companies over climate change, so they could still get a big payday.
Interesting spin. – not all the players that made this decision are mentioned and its likely that a large majority of your readers wont read the NCJ article. Half truths are decieving. Your article and the NCJ article neglects to mention that the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association was in on this decision to cut short the season. It also neglects to mention this decision was a settlement agreement of a lawsuit brought on by an enviromental group. CDFW was ordered by the Federal Govt to secure take permits for the management of our coastal fishery, and until those take permits are secured, no crabbing.
Serious question: When I ask to use another news site’s article, and link back to them for the finish, how far in is acceptable?
🕯So why am I not getting your emails alerts anymore?
Traveling to another website is fine, for local issues. It is commonly done by other similar blogs and news sites.
Use what you need and feel is appropriate! Thanks for covering the story!
I believe one paragraph is the custom, but I’m fairly certain there is some formal guideline to consult.
In that case, I wouldn’t even have the subject of the post. Here’s what would have shown:
And the accepted amount varies depending on how long the original article is. But all that changes when the point is to give readers enough to know whether the article is of value to them so they know whether they want to click through.
I made my best call. Sometimes that doesn’t make everyone happy.
Another crabby patty please…
Yeah it was very crappy deal for the “CDFW” to “behind closed doors….Slam the door shut” on family fisherman. I would say it’s true that whales have gotten entangled on the North Coast, and Crabbers need to be held more accountable for cleaning up thier gear. There is also a working group that is hashing it out trying to find solutions. A voluntary effort. And I commend them for that. Some of those solutions include ropes that break off and such, better markings on gear, And other solutions.
A Humpback got entangled outside of crescent city, in 2017, And
I think one of the reasons for such a strong reaction is that an experienced fisherman died up in Canada trying to Free an entangled whale, during this lawsuit.
From what I can understand, There were something like 31 confirmed entanglements in California in 2017. And 35 in 2018..But it is clear that most of them were in more populated areas. Mostly off the coast of central California.
So it’s definitely a raw deal for our local fisherman here. And I think greater efforts have been made here since the whale got entangled in 2017 in crescent city.. I don’t think there were any entanglements here on the North coast in 2018. It’s especially bad because the crabbers had a tough year this year from the beginning, so this was another big hit. But good luck with being heard on a state level. The state has been pretty harsh to the economy here On the North coast lately. I read the NCJ article completely. I also know what it’s like to have an “Organization” claim they are representing your interests when if fact they are just bureaucratic Pencil pushers that are pretty disconnected from the reality they often say they represent. So, definitely feel for the family fisherman here! I also feel for the whales! But I feel like better solutions could have been found to suit both!
https://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/publications/protected_species/marine_mammals/5.2.2018_wcr_2018_entanglement_report_508.pdf
I’m all for crabbing and have no issues. With that said, I’m shocked to read the biologist say he knows of no incidents. Unless I dreamt this, a whale was wrapped up in crab pot rope within the past few years, right outside Humboldt Bay.
Also, stuck pots remain stuck all year.
I went looking after your comment and found this one. https://www.triplicate.com/csp/mediapool/sites/Triplicate/News/story.csp?cid=4377199&sid=923&fid=151
6 years ago. Where does the time go??
And don’t forget, whatever happens, it’s the fault of the liberals. Fewer crabs to catch…the liberals did it. Pot regs suck…obviously the liberals. Bad weather…the liberals, of course. Et cetera.
No,no. Everyone knows Trump did it. Did it all.
You mean Trump isn’t a liberal??? (Palm contacts forehead with great force.)
You mean Trump isn’t a liberal??? (Palm contacts forehead with great force.)
https://reason.org/commentary/the-incoherent-philosophy-of-the-ra/
The radical eco-religious group aka Center for Biological Diversity
site lists a few of the crazy (racist) cases http://leftexposed.org/2016/10/center-biological-diversity/
If entangled whales were washing up dead on any beach, anywhere on the west coast … it would be national if not international news worthy.
It doesn’t happen. The whales are fine. This is just bunny hugger BS trying to make a mole mound into a mountain.