With whales present, California wildlife department stops crab fishing to reduce entanglement threat

With humpback whales heading back to their feeding grounds off coastal California and gray whales migrating north to Alaska, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it will close the commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fisheries in southern and central fishing zones to reduce the risk of entanglements. Recently spotters with the department counted as many as 34 humpbacks in one day, said Ryan Bartling, a senior environmental scientists at the wildlife agency.

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