Dungeness Crabbers On Strike From Sonoma County To Canada

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) — Dungeness crab fishers from Northern California to the Canadian border are on strike after wholesale buyers sought to lower the purchase price.

The strike started Wednesday after buyers offered to pay $2.75 a pound for the tasty crustacean. Crabbers whose seasons had already opened had negotiated a price of $3 per pound.

The strike does not affect commercial crabbers south of Sonoma County's Bodega Bay, where customers have been snapping up the holiday dinner table staple since November.

But prices were not set in all fisheries because the West Coast commercial Dungeness crab season opened in phases this year, due to elevated domoic acid levels.

Lorne Edwards, president of the Bodega Bay Fisherman's Marketing Association, said he expects the strike to continue through New Year's Day.

"The whole coast is all tied up," he said.

Humboldt County fishers went on strike after Humboldt County wholesale buyer Pacific Choice Seafood dropped its price to $2.75, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Fishers south to Bodega Bay and north to Oregon and Washington joined the strike in solidarity.

A spokesman for Pacific Choice could not be immediately reached for comment.

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