Commercial Dungeness Crab Season is Underway

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In this Monday, Aug. 7, 2017 photo, Jake Bunch, left, and Tom Dempsey, right, of the Nature Conservancy gather abandoned crab pots they hauled up off Half Moon Bay, Calif. Fisherman like Bunch are using GPS positioning in their cellphones to voluntarily step up recovery of abandoned crab pots before they snare whales. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Commercial Dungeness crab season is officially underway along the North and Central Coast. Fishermen are hoping this season will reverse a multi-year stretch of bad luck and lost profits caused by a shortened season over food safety concerns caused by a rare toxic algae and last winter’s powerful storms. Today’s start of the season could be hampered by forecasted 20 to 30 knot winds, creating dangerous “cross seas” where wind-blown waves collide with large swells, causing cargo or men to be washed overboard. But if all goes well, fishermen expect to have plenty of crab through the holidays: it could be in stores by this weekend.