The State - News from Nov. 23, 1987

Fishermen accepted an offer of $1.75 per pound for crab from wholesalers, ending a dispute that grounded boats in Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay and San Francisco. Since the start of the crab season in the San Francisco Bay Area on Nov. 10, not a single boat was put to sea for Dungeness crab. Until the dispute was settled, dealers kept crab on tables with imports from Alaska. About 75 boats in Bodega Bay and another 45 vessels from Half Moon Bay and San Francisco Bay refused to fish during the dispute. Fisherman at first asked for $2.10 a pound from wholesalers. but eventually dropped that request to $1.85 per pound. The wholesalers offered $1.75. The North Coast season, above the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, does not open until Dec. 1. The bulk of the Dungeness crab is caught in the area. “It seems to me people are happy to be back at work,” said Mike Gold, president of the Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Marketing Assn. “I suspect everyone will go fishing at this price.”