Thirty fishermen from the Pillar Point Harbor fishing fleet met managers from all 13 national marine sanctuaries around the country at the Harbor House in Princeton to discuss how to maintain sustainable fisheries, according to a report by Amelia Hansen in the SM County Times.

Barbara Emley, a commercial salmon fisherman and chair of the Gulf of the Farallones advisory council, said fishermen often see things out on the ocean that may be of interest to scientists.

“We started seeing sunfish — from the size of a Volkswagen to the size of a dinner plate,” Emley told the crowd. “We talked about it on the radio, we exchanged recipes, but we didn’t tell anybody else about it. Maybe, we thought, this would be of interest to an oceanographer.’

Discussions included consideration of moving the sanctuary office from Half Moon Bay to the harbor.

Money’s Mushrooms plans to close its farm in Pescadero on Jan. 10.  The farm employs about 150 pickers and 20 supervisors and 60 other employees. Some employees have worked there 25 to 30 years. We broke this story on the Coastside last year, but the Santa Cruz Sentinel tells the ten-year history of the operation and why it has to close.

One week into the eight-month Dungeness Crab season, most of the legally catchable crabs had already been taken. The result was a glut of crabs, low prices for fishermen, and the dumping of dead, unsold crabs into San Francisco Bay, according to the Chronicle. Crab fishermen have been distributing a video showing piles of crabs that died waiting to be offloaded during the glut.

Traditionally, the crab industry belonged to small, local boats with two to three hundred traps, but fishermen from as far north as Washington have arrived with boats carrying more than 1,000 traps.  Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill setting a 250-pot limit per vessel for two years. It was opposed by the owners of large vessels.

The Central California fishery extends from Morro Bay to Point Arena, but most crabs are caught in Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay and outside San Francisco Bay, according to an AP report in the Mercury News.

The Christmas tree lots along Highway 92 are open for business.  The San Mateo County Times talked to Bob Lemos of Lemos Farm and Johnny Cozzolino of 4 C’s Christmas Trees.  Lemos was predicting a good season, but Cozzolino was reluctant to make a prediction. 

The Chamber of Commerce has posted a list of restaurants open on Thanksgiving.  As someone who has spent a couple of Thanksgivings looking for dinner, I think this is a great idea.  You should probably call now for reservations.

• Cetrella - (650) 726-4090


• Half Moon Bay Joe’s - (650) 560-9260


• Moss Beach Distillery - (650) 728-5595


• Navio at The Ritz-Carlton - (650) 712-7050


• Pasta Moon - (650) 726-5125

Pillar Point Harbor was a hub of activity Sunday evening as fishermen got ready for the opening of crab season on Monday.  Bright lights, truckloads of crab pots and boats fueling up were all part of the preparation.

The San Mateo Daily Journal has a great story on the state of the crab business from a more local perspective.

The Chronicle has a good story about the opening of crab season in San Francisco, as well as a story about nabbing crab poachers.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel describes preparations for the opening of the crab season on Monday, including in interview with Larry Collins, a Half Moon Bay fisherman. Fresh crab could be available to consumers as early as Monday afternoon.

When prices get too low for crabbers, many at smaller harbors like Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz take their product directly to the dining public.

“If I don’t like the price, I just sell off the boat,” Ribeiro said.

Money’s Mushrooms will be closing its operation in Pescadero [map] as well as in Ganges Township, Michigan and Howe, Indiana. The plant has about 220 employees and will be closing on January 8.

The company describes growing mushrooms as an agricultural factory, a laboratory activity set in a farm environment.

There more information about the closings in this article from a Michigan newspaper.

The Oakland Tribune now has an article about the closing of Money’s Pescadero plant.

The economics of the crab fishery and the struggle of crab fisherman to organize to negotiate a price for their catch is the subject of a good story in The San Mateo County Times.  Fishermen not only face dissension within their own ranks, but competition in their fisheries from larger operators from Oregon and Washington. Maintaining discipline is not always pretty:

In 2002, local fisherman John Dooley—widely despised for his blatant disregard of association action—refused to participate in a three-week crab-fishing strike. The lines to 400 of his traps were cut.

Last week, Coastsider joined the HMB Coastside Chamber of Commerce.  It’s another big step for Coastsider toward becoming a contributing member of the community. One of Coastsider’s missions is to not only improve the quality of downtown Half Moon Bay, but to support the development of downtowns in El Granada, Moss Beach and Montara. To do that, we need to increase the amount and quality of our business coverage, and examine the economic issues that affect us all.