Hundreds of Dungeness crab commercial fishermen got cracking on harvesting the season's first batch of San Francisco crustaceans this past weekend, though an industry expert said Sunday that it is too soon to tell just how bountiful the season will be.
An official crab count since the season opened Saturday was not yet available, but it was estimated that 300 to 400 boats initially dotted the waters off San Francisco. The majority of vessels came from north of Mendocino County, where the season doesn't officially begin until Dec. 1, said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association.
"We're guardedly optimistic," Grader said of this year's Bay Area crabbing season. "We could very well be looking at year records for this time of year, but that doesn't mean there's necessarily more crab than in previous years, it just means more crab has been harvested earlier."
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