April 5, 2006
The Times-Standard
Eureka Times Standard
Crabbers are breathing a big sigh of relief at the news that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Dungeness crab protection bill co-authored by Assemblywoman Patty Berg and state Sen. Wesley Chesbro.
”Crabbers seldom agree on anything, but there was broad agreement on the need for this legislation and widespread appreciation for the efforts of Assemblymember Berg and Sen. Chesbro,” said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, in a press release from Berg's office.
Schwarzenegger signed the bill, Assembly Bill 601, Friday, a day before the protections were to expire.
”This is an instance in which timing was all important,” Berg said. “To allow this law to expire would have caused terrible hardship on our fishing fleet and on the crab population.”
The bill follows another that failed this fall, in which San Francisco Bay Area fishermen tried to use the critical provision as leverage to pass limits on how many crab pots boats from that southern port could carry. Schwarzenegger vetoed that bill.
”It was kind of a dicey situation,” fisherman Ken Bay told the Times-Standard last week as he prepared to wrap up crab fishing for the year. “If they'd open this thing up you'd have boats down here you wouldn't believe.”
The Dungeness crab fishery is sustainable, with size and sex limits protecting breeding stocks. But with other fisheries dwindling, more and more fishermen turn to crabbing, which can decrease the amount each boat might catch. Adding more boats to the mix from other states -- and additional boats from this state -- could economically devastate California fishermen.
Oregon is also working on pot limits, which would have made the California fishery appear that much more attractive if it were opened to out-of-state boats.
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