Hold the butter: crab season gets pinched

Don’t get crabby, but your holiday culinary splurge has been postponed. Dungeness crab from northern California did not make the grade, according to state Fish and Game, so  crab season will be delayed until at least December 13.

The delay was a result of poor crab meat quality test results. The next test is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 1. If these results indicate good quality, the fishery will open and be preceded by a 64-hour gear setting period that would begin no earlier than the morning of Dec. 13, 2018.

It might be later than that. “Last season, the northern Dungeness crab fishery was delayed until Jan. 15, the latest a quality delay can be extended,” said state environmental scientist Christy Juhasz. “Results from our recent test are very similar to last year indicating that this delay may be extended past Dec. 16.”

In the meantime, stores will likely stock imported (and perhaps frozen) from Alaska and beyond, making it pricier.