Commercial crabbers south of Point Arena with crab pots in the water pulled them out this past weekend, as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife shut down the crab fishery early—for the fifth straight year—to prevent humpback whale entanglements.
Crabbers lost more than two months of the season with the closure, but recent surveys reported about 30 of these protected whales near Morro Bay and dozens more in both Monterey and Half Moon Bay.
