RUMORS FLY AS CRAB HITS AREA STORES:DESPITE AGREEMENT TO STALL LOCAL SEASON, SOME WONDER IF CURRENT CATCH IS REALLY FROM OUT OF STATE

When fresh crab from Washington started appearing in local markets this

week, some people wondered whether the crustaceans really were from up north,

or if they had been caught locally.

Bodega Bay fishermen have vowed not to harvest crab until the state says

there is no risk of contamination from the Nov. 7 fuel spill in San Francisco

Bay.

Suspicions really started running high when it was learned that

out-of-state boats unloaded tons of local Dungeness crabs at piers in Monterey

and Santa Cruz earlier this week.

''The problem is, are these Washington crabs or are they from around

here?'' said Chris Lawson, president of the Fisherman's Marketing Association

of Bodega Bay.

Tim Wallinger, who owns a crab boat that is based in Bodega Bay, said he

witnessed thousand of pounds of crab being unloaded from a boat out of

Westport, Wash., at a pier in Santa Cruz on Monday morning.

He said a truck from Oakland-based Norcal Seafood was on hand to receive

the harvest, which he estimated to be between 25,000 and 30,000 pounds.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Kevin Lee, who owns Norcal Seafood,

denied that any of his trucks were in Santa Cruz on Monday. He said all the

crab he is distributing comes from Washington.

Following the fuel spill from the container ship Cosco Busan, Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger signed an order banning crabbing and fishing in affected

waters.

That translated into a closure between Pedro Point in San Mateo County and

Point Reyes in Marin County, along with much of San Francisco Bay.

Crab fishermen from Bodega Bay are staying in port until the contamination

test results are announced. They are expected Wednesday.

''Our concern is to make sure the crab is safe to the consumer,'' Lawson

said. ''I feel it's safe right now, but we're going to wait for the tests to

come out from the health department to prove that it's safe.''

With the Bay Area crab harvest on hold, local seafood buyers have been

struggling to get what they can from Washington.

The limited availability of crab from Washington has added to suspicions

that some of what's being sold locally has actually come from the crab boats

spotted in Monterey and Santa Cruz.

Michael Lucas, president of North Coast Fisheries, said his local customers

want reassurance that Washington crab is really from that state.

Lucas said that because of pressures on the Washington market and poor

weather there, he was able to obtain only about 8,000 pounds of crab for the

Thanksgiving holiday.

''I didn't get nearly what I wanted,'' he said. ''It was enough to get G

and G and a couple of local markets their crab.''

Lucas said his company normally moves between 500,000 and 600,000 pounds of

crab in Sonoma County around this time of year. He said that what little he

was able to get was ''like pulling teeth.''

All 2,000 pounds of G and G Supermarket's Washington crab, which sells for

$6.99 a pound, came from North Coast Fisheries.

Fircrest Market in Sebastopol obtained some of its cooked Washington crab

from North Coast Fisheries and is selling it for $7.99 a pound.

Scott Robinette, Fircrest Market's meat manager, said the market was able

to obtain a couple of hundred pounds of crab.

''The wholesale price is up in the $6.25 range,'' Robinette said.

''Normally, they'd be around $5.49 or $5.99 a pound.''

Robinette said he has tried to make sure he's not getting local crab.

''I asked both of our fish purveyors if these were what they're calling the

'scab crabs,' and they said they were not,'' he said.

Ron Pezzolo, a seafood buyer in San Francisco, said the crab that was

off-loaded in Monterey and Santa Cruz could ''be going anywhere.''

Pezzolo, who also has purchased crab from Washington, said he's certain

that none of the locally harvested crab has been purchased by dealers on

Fisherman's Wharf.

When asked if any of it made its way to Sonoma County, Pezzolo said,

''anything's possible.''

For local fishermen, watching out-of-state boats unload local crab is a

blow to their morale.

''It hurts to watch a guy sit there and unload an $80,000 load,'' said

Wallinger, the Bodega Bay fisherman. ''Those guys are catching product that we

should be catching. They're taking money out of our pockets.''

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or

martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.