Crab season delayed, but for how long?

SAN FRANCISCO - The crabbing season is now officially delayed because there's a lot of sea life out there that fishing gear can harm. 

The decision may make some crustacean lovers a little crabby themselves.

Dig deeper:

The crab vessels at San Francisco's famed Fisherman's Wharf were very still Friday night with no crab pots in sight.

Wildlife officials say the number of whale and sea turtle entanglements in crab or other fishing gear has risen in recent years, leading the season to be delayed until at least the first of the new year or beyond.

That means no commercially caught local crab for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Fishers at the Wharf told KTVU that the delay was not entirely unexpected.

"It's really no surprise. We kind of expected it," said John Barnett, a fisherman for four decades and president of the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. "We have been doing a lot in our industry to minimize our entanglements, to minimize our interactions."

Barnett added this is at least the fourth crab season he has seen delayed.

What they're saying:

At the Sabella & Latorre Restaurant on the Wharf, crab is the main attraction even if it's not local. 

"We're allowed to get crab from up north in Washington and Oregon, but the price is very high and once they realize San Francisco isn't open, they even raise it up higher," said Don McFarland, proprietor of Sabella & Latorre.

But the restaurateur said local crab generates more diners. 

"Thanksgiving crab brings locals down here, it brings a great crowd down here and we haven't had that, I believe, in four years," McFarland said.

Customers KTVU spoke with agree. 

"Oklahoma is not known for crab. So, here I am," said Taylor Williams. 

"I think that's awesome. I really think that's a big part to it. That's one of the reasons I told him we should come down here and have dinner tonight," said Williams' friend Leonard Walker.

Crabbers say a workaround is needed to get crab season back on track. 

"To be able to fish around the whales, that's our goal. Not to wait till they leave for a week and then they come back, because eventually they'll get to numbers that they're always here. We have to be able to fish around them," Barnett said.