Fishermen ready for opening of Bay Area commercial crab season

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There are finally crab boats loaded and ready to go in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf for the opening of the commercial season on Saturday after a month-long delay because of a neurotoxin in the crab.

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The danger appears to have passed.

Larry Collins from the Crab Boat Owners Association, a group of businessmen who make their livings on waves whose lives have been on the bubble since California closed the crab season, blame El Nino and a warm water algae producing a toxin that got in the crabs.

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Even on Friday, researchers like Dr. William Cochlan do not know all the contributing factors nor do they have the funding to find out.

For now, it's a matter of sampling the crab, testing it, and establishing a price.

A lot of fishermen still wonder why, with standards changing from state to state, that didn't happen months ago.