Recreational Dungeness crab season opens in California

Nabil Arsaline caught one of the few Dungeness crab at the Pacifica Pier on the recreational season’s opening day. Nabil Arsaline caught one of the few Dungeness crab at the Pacifica Pier on the recreational season’s opening day. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 52 Caption Close Recreational Dungeness crab season opens in California 1 / 52 Back to Gallery

The age-old tradition of catching crab for dinner has returned to the Bay Area, with some relief.

With the opening of the state recreational Dungeness crab season on Saturday, local crabbers showed up at Pacifica Pier, among other popular spots, with their nets, snares and crab traps.

The fact that the season opened on time was reason alone to celebrate, after last year’s massive algal bloom delayed the opening of the local sports fishery until February and the commercial season until March. This year, the California Department of Public Health has determined the crabs to be safe to eat after doing two months of testing for domoic acid, the toxin that results from algal blooms and can be harmful if eaten.

The department tests crabs every year but started earlier than usual this fall. The bloom of algae that caused last year’s domoic acid problems, pseudo-nitzschia, is common and naturally occurring but usually goes away by the time crab season starts.

There is still one caveat for recreational fishers: Anyone who catches crab north of Point Reyes should remove all viscera — the internal organs, including the butter — before consuming the meat. According to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, this precaution is “due to the sporadic detection of elevated levels of domoic acid in the viscera of Dungeness crabs caught off the northern California coast.” Domoic acid concentrates in crabs’ internal organs.

In addition to avoiding the butter, which some cooks like to serve with the crab or add to sauces, health department officials also recommend to either boil or steam North Coast crabs, rather than fry or broil them, since traces of viscera remain in whole crab. Also, any water used to cook the crab should be discarded rather than used in a broth or sauce. That means no extra-crabby cioppino.

Because of the domoic acid lingering in coastal waters on the North Coast, Fish and Wildlife would not yet confirm that the commercial season will open as scheduled on Nov. 15.

“We will continue to work with CDPH and the fishing community to collect crab samples from the Northern California coast until the domoic acid levels have dissipated,” said Jordan Traverso, a Fish and Wildlife spokesman.

In recent tests, a few sample crabs collected in Fort Bragg and Bodega Bay showed enough sign of domoic acid to cause the warning against eating crab butter. The department will continue to test crab and report new results regularly.

For now, recreational season is open. Licensed sport crabbers may catch and possess 10 crabs per day, and the crab shell must measure at least 5¾ inches across.

Crabbers kicked off opening day by showing up at the Pacifica Pier, where conditions were cold and foggy. Still, the mood was light, with some folks barbecuing meat and others playing music and catching up with friends and family.

Large waves Saturday morning made catching any crabs difficult, said Jason Ludwig, a 37-year-old Sunnyvale resident who got to the pier at around 8 a.m. By noon, he hadn’t caught any crabs and had only seen two taken elsewhere on the pier.

“We’re waiting for conditions to improve,” he said. Ludwig planned to stick around for the rest of the day. “Make it an all-day thing — you drive out this far, you might as well make use of the trip.”

Chronicle staff writer Hamed Aleaziz contributed to this report.

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan