The commercial season for Dungeness crab opens Thursday for the Central Coast, with the prospects of crabs that are loaded with meat, but fishermen are expecting fewer of them than in the past two years, when records were set.
"It doesn't look like as good as the past two years," said Chuck Cappotto, president of the Fisherman's Marketing Association of Bodega Bay. "It is difficult to tell, but from sport fishing reports, the abundance is not anywhere as good as the last two years."
Last year, a record 31.6 million pounds of crab were caught in California, valued at $94.8 million, the biggest catch in 100 years.
In 2010, 27.5 million pounds were caught, valued at $56.8 million.
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