This is the result of an oil spill
Crab fishermen who lost most of their seasonal earnings because of the Cosco Busan oil spill last month have reason to hope they’ll recoup some of their losses. On Monday, the San Francisco-based law firms of Hanson Bridgett & McGuinn and Hillsman & Palefsky announced the settlement of a claim under which up to 70 Bay Area Dungeness crab fishermen will begin receiving between $5,000 and $10,000 each as initial compensation for their losses. The lawyers said the insurance adjusters representing Regal Stone Ltd., the owners of the Cosco Busan, had already deposited $700,000 into a trust account to be distributed to fishermen in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay and Bodega Bay who could prove they were hit hardest by the loss of the first two weeks of crab season, which normally starts Nov. 15. The oil spill that fouled Bay Area waters Nov. 7 reverberated in all three harbors, making many of the most plentiful Dungeness crab zones off-limits until the California Department of Fish and Game reopened the fishery Nov. 29. Commercial crab boats of all sizes lost not just the crucial Bay Area Thanksgiving market, but the two-week period in which Dungeness crab fetch the highest price due to local demand before the Oregon fishing season begins.