UPDATE—Get crabs off the boat or dock: Strike Done. Boats Out. Commercial Crab Season On — and Fort Bragg Waiting for the Big Economic Boost
Get crab fresh off the boat at Princess $8.99 for live and cooked right there in front of you $9.99. Big ole crabs!! Heather Sears told us the crabs look great out there, which was repeated by the other two boats we talked to. While we reported in the story below, (based on the Princess Facebook page) that they would bring back the first crab Friday, they got back on Thursday with the first load, opening day!
Crab fisherwomen are getting paid $4.35 a pound, way better than the under three dollar per pound prices the buyers presented on opening day in SF (two weeks before Noyo Harbor’s Opening Day). They fishermen in SF had a strike, stopping all crab fishing for about a week, before the buyers relented. Local fishers predict they wil soon be getting more than $5 and then above $6 per pound for the beauties we were seeing. The first month of the season is the best crab. Come down to the docks on Saturday!
Noyo Harbor was the place to be Thursday night — docks buzzing, boats zig‑zagging, and enough action to make the dogs think they’d wandered onto a movie set. Frank and the pups ended up front‑row for a way‑too‑close call between two fishing vessels. The larger boat punched the throttle at the last possible second, missing the smaller one by inches. We actually had the camera ready, but when metal nearly met metal, instinct won out and all we managed was a very professional, “LOOK OUT!”
Commercial crab fishing out of Fort Bragg began Thursday at 12:01 am. Recreational crab season here has been underway for just under a month, and as every fisherman knows, most of the commercial catch comes in those first frantic days. This year’s commercial fleet is working under a 40% gear reduction, meaning boats can only fish with 60% of their pots. The cutback is tied to the rising number of Humpback whales feeding close to shore — their encounters with crab‑pot lines have pushed the state to tighten restrictions. Gray whales, whose numbers have been declining, aren’t typically here in large numbers during peak crab days, but the Humpbacks are enough to trigger caution.
Prices still haven’t kept pace with costs, fishermen say. A price dispute in San Francisco delayed their season by two weeks, with fishermen holding out for $3.30 per pound while processors initially offered $2.50 — lower than last year. We weren’t able to confirm today’s boat price, but as always, it will climb if the harvest is light and drop if the crabs come in heavy, even with reduced gear.
At the retail level, fresh crab is expected to start around $11 per pound — roughly $25 for a single crab.
Local fishermen didn’t have to strike and the season here started less than two weeks after areas south, thanks to the strike. The state held back the opening north of the Sonoma–Mendocino line until today so local crabs could clear domoic acid after December’s elevated tests. Noyo boats got the green light to set pots on Monday, and the Princess Seafood crew says the first big haul should hit the docks Friday. We went down early Friday morning but no crabs were being unloaded yet.
For the next 30 days, only boats that didn’t fish to the south can head out of Noyo Harbor — a safeguard to keep the harbor from being swamped by outside fleets on opening day. And those first days matter. Crab season starts with 24‑hour marathons, and the early window is worth more than the first days of any other fishery. Crabs begin marching to deeper water right as the season opens, so every hour counts.
Crab fishermen and women — especially the Princess team — make most of their year’s income in these storm‑season weeks, grinding through rough seas, long nights, and tight weather windows to bring the catch home.
The Coast Guard, Fish and Wildlife, and just about everyone else seemed to be out enjoying the action on a very foggy Thursday night. Come along for our photo story!
Commercial crab season comes with a whole new tangle of regulations in 2026 —New Hoop Net and Trap Fishing Regulations for 2026 – Marine Management News pages of them, in fact. It’s interesting reading, but I’ll admit much of it sails right over my head. What I do understand is the feeling on the docks tonight.
Fog thick enough to taste. Engines rumbling through the mist. The Coast Guard, Fish and Wildlife, and half the harbor community out watching the season crack open. Noyo felt alive in that rare way it only does on the edge of something big, when the whole town leans forward to see what the ocean will give.
Tonight was just the prologue. The pots are down, the boats are out, and by dawn the first real pulse of the season will hit the docks. Whether the landings boom or trickle, whether the prices rise or fall, one thing is certain: Fort Bragg’s heartbeat is tied to these waters, and on nights like this, you can feel it thundering.
Crab season is on. Noyo Harbor is awake. And the story of this winter is just beginning.
