In today's newscast:
Commercial Dungeness crab season delayed
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has documented nine whale entanglements so far this year, six of them in Monterey Bay. The state is delaying the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season to avoid more.
Over the weekend, the recreational fishing season for Dungeness crab opened. But commercial fishermen all along the California Coast will have to wait until January 7 to put out their gear.
"It's really been driven by entanglements off of our coast," said Ryan Bartling with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
"Humpback whales are kind of the focal species," said Bartling, "but we have unfortunately had leatherback sea turtles entangled as well."
He says delaying the commercial season allows whales to migrate out of the area at lower risk.
"We'll fly transects, looking for humpback whale presence," said Bartling. "And if they're over a certain number, then the director can take the action to delay, or in the case of recreational traps, restrict them 'til the whales leave."
This is the seventh consecutive year that the department has delayed the commercial season.
Scientists working on reintroducing sunflower stars
Scientists in Moss Landing are working on a plan to reintroduce sunflower sea stars to California’s waters. The sea stars used to keep urchin populations in check, but Ashley Kidd with the Sunflower Star Laboratory in Moss Landing says a disease wiped them out.
"Since 2018, there hasn't been a sighting south of the Golden Gate Bridge," said Kidd.
Now, the scientists are growing them in an aquaculture lab and doing reintroduction studies in Monterey Bay. Kidd says the first few studies went well, but they did detect the disease. The team plans to try longer studies in the summer.
