'Significant Risk to Humans': California Crab Season Delayed Thanks to Toxin

Following a health advisory Tuesday against eating Dungeness and rock crab caught along parts of the California coast because of dangerous levels of a toxin in the animals, state officials have also recommended a delay to the start of the Dungeness crab season and the close of the rock crab fishery.

The recreational season was scheduled to start Saturday. The commercial season is still currently scheduled to start Nov. 15. It’s uncertain when the recreational season will now start and if the commercial season will also be delayed.

The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s recommendation prompted an emergency meeting of the California Fish and Game Commission Thursday in Sacramento. At the meeting, the commission voted 3-0 to delay the opening of the recreational Dungeness crab fishery and the commercial Dungeness crab season.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued the following statement Thursday after that meeting:

The California Fish and Game Commission today voted 3-0 in favor of an emergency rulemaking to prohibit recreational take and possession of Dungeness crab and all rockcrab from ocean waters, including bays and estuaries, north of the Ventura/Santa Barbara county line.

Closure of the fisheries shall remain in effect until the Director of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), in consultation with the Director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), determines that domoic acid levels no longer pose a significant risk to public health and no longer recommends the fisheries be closed.

The Commission also directed the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to maintain a list of closed ocean waters of the state and update that list on Wednesday of each week by 1 p.m. It shall be the responsibility of any person prior to taking Dungenesscrab to call the department’s hotline (831) 649-2883 or visit the department’s website atwww.wildlife.ca.gov/fishing/ocean/health-advisories to obtain the current status of any ocean water.

The accumulation of domoic acid in seafood is a natural phenomenon caused by the presence of Pseudo-nitzschia, a single-celled plant, according to state health department officials. Conditions affecting the growth of Pseudo-nitzschia are unpredictable, and that makes it difficult to know when levels of domoic acid in locally caught crab will subside.

Health department officials said they will continue to monitor domoic acid in Dungeness and rock crab until levels subside below 20 parts per million in the meat and 30 parts per million in the viscera. Symptoms of domoic acid poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache and dizziness. Symptoms can appear within 30 minutes to 24 hours after consuming toxic seafood, and can persist for several days.

Severe cases of domoic acid poisoning can sometimes involve trouble breathing, confusion, disorientation, cardiovascular instability, seizures, excessive bronchial secretions, permanent loss of short-term memory, coma or even death. So far, no cases of domoic acid poisoning have been reported, according to state health officials. For more information call the California Department of Public Health’s shellfish information line at (800) 553-4133.

— Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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