In the pre-dawn darkness, bundled up in down jackets and colorful beanies, dozens of die-hard Dungeness crab fans made the pilgrimage to the San Francisco waterfront on Sunday for the season’s first day of off-the-boat sales.
A handful of shoppers were queued up before the official opening at 6 a.m., each armed with a rolling cooler or insulated plastic bag. Their destination was the FV KVINS, a red, white, and, blue boat operated by captain Shawn Chen Flading. His was the only vessel docked and selling crab in the early hours before sunrise, and as the morning drew on, a line of shoppers stretched farther up the floating pier.
Flading sat in a red folding chair at the end of the sales dock at Pier 47, collecting payment from customers who’d been anxiously awaiting the season’s first catch, which had been pulled from the water only hours before. “It’s been wild,” Flading said, between greeting customers and counting out bills. “The weather was beautiful when we set the traps, but it was really bad when we went back to collect them.”
The start of this year’s Dungeness season, a much-anticipated annual event for many Bay Area residents, came after weeks of both expected and unusual delays. In recent years, the season has been consistently delayed to avoid migrating whales getting caught in crab lines. But this year, an anticipated Jan. 2 opener was first pushed back due to bad weather, and then when fishers went on strike to negotiate better prices from wholesale buyers. This season, customers buying off the boat will pay $11 per pound, with most crabs costing between $20 and $25.
For crab devotees like Pauline Vela, braving brisk weather — the temperature at Fisherman’s Wharf on Sunday morning was in the low 40s — and darkness to get freshly caught Dungeness was a no-brainer. “I’m here every year,” she said as she rolled her cooler down to the water. “I don’t get my crabs anywhere but the boats. You don’t even have to put them in butter or lemon. They’re so sweet. There’s a big difference.”
The Port of San Francisco only began allowing fishing vessels to sell their catch directly to customers at Fisherman’s Wharf in January 2022. Prior to the announcement of the one-year pilot program in late 2021, anyone wanting to get fresh, live crab had to drive to Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay. Now, an increasing number of Bay Area residents are making the trip to Pier 47 a yearly tradition.
First-timer Edwin Flores, who trekked down to the dock with his dog Kimba and was one of the first in line, purchased four crabs for $92. Having never cooked one before, he planned to consult YouTube before taking the plunge. Though he was happy to have avoided the four-hour-long line shoppers braved on the first day of last year’s season. He was surprised by the relatively quiet scene. “It’s not how they show in the pictures,” he said with a shrug.
Richmond resident Dave, who declined to share his last name, has been buying live Dungeness from Fisherman’s Wharf for the past three years. In the past, he purchased from the FV Plumeria, which was not selling on Sunday due to a mechanical issue. Armed with $100 in cash, he made the early-morning trip so he could go home and cook a crab feast for his family. His preferred way to enjoy the first-of-the-season catch is cold and fresh over a salad. “The start of the season is when it’s the best tasting.”