High toxin level delays California recreational crab season

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Wildlife authorities delayed the recreational Dungeness crab season and closed the rock crab fishery for most of California on Thursday, just days after warning of dangerous levels of a neurotoxin linked to a massive algae bloom off the West Coast.

The state Fish and Game Commission voted 3-0 on the Dungeness delay and the rock crab closure north of the Santa Barbara-Ventura county line. The panel said crabbing would resume when toxin levels dropped, but it did not estimate when that might be.

The recreational Dungeness season was scheduled to start Saturday. Rock crabs are caught year-round.

Fish and wildlife officials didn't immediately delay the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season, set for Nov. 15, but they were working up emergency regulations.
http://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-science/20151106/US--Crab.Fishery-Toxin/