Limited Bay Area Crab Supply May Rebound By New Year's Eve

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— The Bay Area's Dungeness Crab shortage can be blamed on the severe weather during the week of Christmas, but fisherman will set pots on Friday so that the supply is hopefully replenished by New Year's Eve.

At San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf Thursday the signs read "sold out". Fisherman were kept in port for nearly a week according to Angel Cincotta with Alioto Lazio Fish Company.

"We always have to remember that Mother Nature is part of the challenge in this industry," Cincotta said.

She said by Christmas Eve, they were sold out of crab.

"A lot of people sold out. I heard a lot of the crab stands sold out by 9:30 in the morning, which is highly unusual."

There was a post-Thanksgiving glut of crab, followed by the fishermen's strike in early December. They held out for a higher price of $3 a pound— only to be docked by the rain later in the month.

Third-generation commercial fisherman Carl Campbell said he and his colleagues are ready.

"We're going to be going out like two or three in the morning and we'll probably stay out a couple of days and then come back on Sunday," Campbell said.

He expects the price for live Dungeness crab will go up to $3.50 per pound and be available in time for New Years Eve.

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