No Fresh Dungeness Crabs for Thanksgiving

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Now off the menu for Thanksgiving.

​As SFoodie reported on Friday, negotiations between the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners' Association and the Bay Area largest crab processors have flatlined over the price the processors were willing to pay. The fishermen have stuck to their demand for $2.50 per pound -- which small, local processors have agreed to but the largest ones wouldn't, keeping the boats at port. There was hope that an agreement would be reached this weekend, but that hasn't happened, say several local seafood wholesalers.

Does that mean local crab is off the menu for Thanksgiving? "That's a safe guess," says Pier 45 Seafood owner Mel Wickliffe.

"The boats would have to go out today, but I don't see any signs of that happening," a representative from Monterey Fish Market adds.

Since the Bay Area's Dungeness season is the earliest on the West Coast, you're going to have to catch your own or look for turkey. With all hope, though, the fishermen and the processors will work out a deal so that you'll have tons of crab for Christmas.

UPDATE: Larry Collins, president of the SF Crab Boat Owners Assocation, confirms that the negotiations are off. Though the fishermen are all eager to get back in the water, they're holding firm on the price, and the boats who travel down from Oregon to fish off the Bay Area coast are respecting the local association's strike. Talks may not resume until after Thanksgiving.