Crab season finally opens in San Francisco Bay Area

In this file photo, a Dungeness Crab sits in a bin after being offloaded from a fishing vessel in San Francisco, California. After a brief delay due to the sizes and maturity of the crabs, Dungeness Crab season opened today instead of its official start day of November 15. Fisherman are hoping for a big year since the past few years haven't yielded big catches. less In this file photo, a Dungeness Crab sits in a bin after being offloaded from a fishing vessel in San Francisco, California. After a brief delay due to the sizes and maturity of the crabs, Dungeness Crab season ... more Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Crab season finally opens in San Francisco Bay Area 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

Just in time for the holidays, fresh local crab is available in the Bay Area.

After a month-long delay, the commercial Dungeness crab season finally opened on Sunday.

The fishery south of the Mendocino-Sonoma County line was originally scheduled to open Nov. 15, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife pushed back the start to lower the risk of whales and sea turtles becoming tangled in fishing gear.

The delay came after the environmental organization Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group raised concern that an earlier season poses significant risk to wildlife.

CDFW officials have said they are coordinating with the Working Group to review scientific information and ways to minimize the risk of entanglement through the season.

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The typical range of Dungeness crab extends from Alaska to Central California near Santa Barbara. In San Francisco, crabbers drive their boats out near the Farallon Islands and drop their traps. On Sunday, they arrived back at Fisherman's wharf with their boats filled with crab.

Amy Graff is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her at agraff@sfgate.com.