Crab fishermen and processors may be near an agreement that will end the tie-up at the docks.  The County Times says that fishermen are hopeful they’ll come to an agreement with the processor who has been holding out.  The paper says that fishermen are looking for $1.85 per pound, but the highest offer is still $1.75, and that fishermen were being paid $1.75 per pound for crab 20 years ago.

The season in the north California coast, Oregon and Washington has been put off by at least two more weeks because the crabs aren’t mature yet.

Crab season, wich has been delayed on the Coastside by disputes between fishermen and processors, has now been officially put off until at least December 15.  Fisheries officials in California, Washington, and Oregon have delayed the season for three more weeks because the crabs are no ready to harvest, according to the County Times.

The larger Northern California fishery, which runs from Mendocino County to the Oregon border - along with fisheries in Oregon and Washington - will remain closed at least until mid-December. Tests conducted in Northern California found that most crabs would meet state standards calling for meat to make up 25 percent of body mass by Dec. 1, but populations near Crescent City and the Oregon border would not be ready in time, said DFG marine biologist Peter Kalvass.

Central coast fishermen are meeting Friday to discuss their tie-up, which is a response to low prices from processors.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel takes a look at Brussels sprouts, which are a big crop on the Coastside. Most of the ones grown on the 1,000 acres of sprouts in Santa Cruz County go back east where the Canadians and French eat them, apparently.

You’ll be hard pressed to find Bontadelli’s sprouts in local chain stores in the area, however.

That business belongs to Cabrillo Farms in Half Moon Bay and a few smaller growers who peddle the produce, which was going for $1.99 pound at Albertson’s in Capitola

I couldn’t stand them when I was a kid, but our kids love them. Epicurious has 42 recipes for brussels sprouts.

The Monterey Herald has an AP story that has been widely reprinted about the dispute between the crab fishermen and Pacific Seafood, the Portland-based company that dominates the West Coast’s seafood industry.

Industry critics call the company the “Wal-Mart of the Seas”—a symbol of what’s wrong with the seafood business. They complain the company has become so powerful it uses its dominance to dictate lower prices for their catch and also drives small processors out of business.

“It’s the Wal-Mart syndrome,” said Pete Leipzig, who heads the Fishermen’s Marketing Association. “They are so large that they dictate to companies what to produce and what to pay.”

Crab season has opened, but no one’s catching anything. Crabbers and processors are still negotiating on price and there is concern about the quality of current crabs, according to the County Times.

The principal issue is that the big producers from up north and big processors are locking the smaller local crabbers out of the market.  Governor Schwarzenegger’s recently vetoed of a bill that would have limited the number of crab pots on fishing boats, according to the Chronicle.

“A few years ago, San Francisco Dungeness crab was a gourmet delicacy that was usually enjoyed fresh by local residents,” said Zeke Grader, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, a commercial fishing advocacy group.

Now, Grader said, the big processors have turned California Dungeness into a canned and frozen commodity that largely is consumed on cruise ships and in casinos.

This year’s salmon season, which ends October 15, will be remembered as a disappointment by local fishermen, according to the County Times.  Unable to fish for the entire month of June, some fishermen saw their catch cut in half. Many blame the government’s decision to divert water from the Klamath River to potato farmers in Oregon in 2002.  The lower water levels led to higher water temperatures in the river and diseases that killed the salmon fry.

Jo Dee Massanari tells me that her last official ownership day at the cafe is October 28th. The new owners take over on the 29th.  Jo Dee says, “They are great local folks and one is even a baker—so I feel really good about the sale.  I’m going to miss everyone like mad!”

One of the reasons I’m so passionate about downtown Half Moon Bay is that this cafe has become my home office away from home.

Two Half Moon Bay commercial fishermen are alive and well after eight hours in the icy Pacific after their boat capsized off the Golden Gate.  The Chronicle has their amazing survival story and it’s a must-read.

Afte the boat capsized, one fisherman had made it onto a flotation platform and the second was in the water.

After about an hour, Woods struggled onto the platform, and the experienced sailors oriented themselves to the northwesterly winds, acting as human sails to move themselves toward shore.

“Every now and then a big swell would knock us off the thing and we’d get back up,’’ Woods said. “By now, the sun’s going down. We’re freezing. Then the fog let in and San Francisco disappeared (from view) and we were totally disoriented. All we could see was the moon above us.

Hours later, they washed up in the surf at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The Chron interviewed them from the American Legion Hall in Princeton Saturday night.

Susan Morgan’s Elegant Cheesecakes has taken the baking world by storm since she started no formal training in 1988.  The Mercury News has a feature on the Princeton cakemaker.  This year Elegant Cheesecakes was named one of Modern Bride magazine’s top 25 trendsetters of 2005. A couple of years ago, she made a wedding cake for the Parrs.

Pescadero was the location of the most expensive house in the Bay Area in the second quarter of 2005.  According to Alain Pinel Realtors, in the East Bay Business Times, it sold for $12.25 million.