Holiday Crab Is Off the Wharf Again This Year. Here's What the Wharf Has Instead This November and December

Thanksgiving crab used to come from San Francisco boats. For the past three seasons the first local crab of the year landed in January, and the numbers California published this October point to a fourth.

For anyone who walks to Fisherman's Wharf, this is now a fixed date. It is set by a written rule. Weather and luck have little to do with it. Local crab arrives in January, and the Wharf has started filling the weeks before it with other reasons to walk down.

The Rule That Moves Crab to January

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife manages Dungeness crab through its Risk Assessment Mitigation Program, which ties the season's opening to whale entanglements. Here's how the department's Oct. 23, 2026 preliminary assessment works through it:

1. Confirmed humpback whale entanglements in a calendar year feed an "Entanglement Evaluation score." A case confirmed in commercial Dungeness gear counts as a full point. A case where the gear is unknown counts as a quarter point. Cases in recreational crab gear are listed without a score.
2. The 2026 score already stands at 3.25. Most of the cases are off Monterey, one is off Santa Cruz Island, and others come from farther south.
3. After three or more confirmed entanglements in commercial crab gear in a calendar year, the regulation says the Director "shall not open the commercial season until January 1 or later of the next calendar year."
4. Several more entanglements reported since August are still under federal review, so the score may go up.

The whales are also still close by. CDFW aerial surveys counted 34 humpbacks in Fishing Zone 2 on Oct. 15 and 38 in Zone 3 on Oct. 16. Both counts were above the department's concentration triggers. San Francisco's coast and the Golden Gate are in Zone 3, which runs from the Sonoma/Mendocino county line south to Pigeon Point.

Department staff recommended keeping the commercial fishery closed in Zones 1 through 5 until at least Jan. 1, 2027. A working group met on Oct. 27, and the Director's own assessment was due on or around Oct. 30. CDFW posts each decision on its Whale Safe Fisheries page. With the score already past the threshold, the recommendation reflects what the regulation requires, so January is the date to plan around.

Three Januaries in a Row, Heading for a Fourth

The Wharf has been through this before. The two most recent seasons both opened commercially on Jan. 5:

The 2025–26 row shows that the opening date and the first crab you can buy are two different days. CDFW opened the central coast on Jan. 5, 2026. The San Francisco Standard reported that unsafe weather kept boats in port, and then captains held off while they negotiated dock prices. Sales to the public at the Wharf were set to start on Sunday, Jan. 11.

The fishing community has been counting the lost holidays. In a November 2025 column in The San Francisco Standard, fisherman Brand Little of Little Fish Company, who sells his catch at more than two dozen Bay Area farmers markets, put it this way:

"We're going on eight or nine years since we've had holiday crab. The kids who grew up having it are now adults, and that tradition is gone."

The same column explains why the date matters to everyone along Jefferson Street. Seafood sales peak with holiday parties, corporate banquets and family dinners. By January, the column says, "the Christmas lights have dimmed, the credit cards have cooled, and the appetite for luxury has faded." Gordon Drysdale, chef at Scoma's, told the Standard that turning away diners who want local crab is "painful, both financially for our business and emotionally."

What Crab Looks Like on the Wharf Until Then

With San Francisco's boats tied up, any Dungeness served before January comes from somewhere else. During earlier delays, that meant Washington and Oregon. In January 2024, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that crab at Bay Area vendors and restaurants during the delay was likely from those two states.

The out-of-state crab is expensive. In November 2025, Adrian Hoffman of the wholesaler Four Star Seafood and Provisions told the Standard he was selling Washington crab for $19 a pound. A holiday-sized crab of about two and a half pounds came to roughly $50. He also said the fill, meaning how much meat is in the shell, was less than ideal compared with local crab early in its season. Those are last year's figures, but they show what it costs to fill a Thanksgiving table with crab when the local fleet is in port.

These are the Wharf kitchens and stands built around Dungeness. When the local season opens, they're where the crab ends up:

• Scoma's, 1965 Al Scoma Way at Pier 47, which the Fisherman's Wharf Association says takes local Dungeness from the boats for its kitchen
• Sabella & La Torre, 2809 Taylor St., the long-running sidewalk crab stand
• Franciscan Crab Restaurant, Pier 43½
• Blue Mermaid, 471 Jefferson St., which lists whole barbecued Dungeness and cioppino
• Cioppino's, 400 Jefferson St., named for the stew that features Dungeness

Last season also added a Saturday pop-up at 101 Al Scoma Way that cooked crab to order next to fish caught locally. The Chronicle reported that it began in January 2026 and was scheduled to run through March. It was a seasonal event, so its 2027 schedule will follow the boats.

The Sport Season Opens Without Traps

Recreational crabbing follows its own calendar, and it starts earlier. CDFW's San Francisco region page, updated Oct. 1, 2026, lists Dungeness as closed and scheduled to reopen on Nov. 7, 2026. The Oct. 23 staff recommendation would ban recreational crab traps in Zones 1 through 5, issue a fleet advisory through at least Jan. 1, 2027, and still allow hoop nets. The assessment says anglers using hoop nets must check them at least every two hours.

The rules depend on the zone, the gear and the date. Check the CDFW regulations page before setting anything in the water. This post is general information, not legal advice, so confirm your own situation with CDFW.

November and December Are Built Around Something Else

With crab out of the holiday picture, the Wharf's calendar this season looks like this:

The ice rink is new this year. The Port announced it at the Sept. 2 Fisherman's Wharf Advisory Committee meeting, when its permits were still in process. It's the clearest sign that the Wharf is building a holiday draw that has nothing to do with the crab calendar. PIER 39's holiday schedule and the Lighted Boat Parade listing cover the other two. The parade listing describes it as recurring on the second Friday of December, with suggested viewing spots at PIER 39, the SkyStar Ferris wheel, the Pier 43 Ferry Arch and Aquatic Park.

The same September meeting tracked two newer businesses near the lagoon. Woods is moving into the lower level of Fisherman's Grotto, a spot the Port calls the Grotto "café space," with a patio facing Alioto's Plaza. It started with outdoor pop-ups while the interior was finished and hoped to open fully in September. Port Real Estate said that tenant improvements for Everett & Jones would soon be complete. Back in June, SFGATE reported that Saigon Sandwich and Little Sweet were expected at Anchor's Landing in the fourth quarter of 2026. It also reported that Castagnola's, closed since March 2020, planned to reopen by the end of the year. Those were projected dates when they were reported, so treat them as targets.

When the Boats Do Come In

The January opening is when the Wharf's oldest custom comes back. Under the Port of San Francisco's retail fish sales program, permitted boats at the Wharf sell crab and fish straight to the public, whole and uncooked. Sales depend on the weather and on what the boats bring in. Over the last two seasons, the first sales came on the opening day itself in 2025 and six days after it in 2026. If January 2027 follows the same pattern, the first local crab of the season will be sold off the boats a short walk from Jefferson Street, sometime after the new year.

If your home is near the Wharf and you'd like to know how its calendar and its newest businesses affect what your place is worth, Gail Grendahl and Brad Coy can walk you through it. Request a complimentary home valuation, and we'll base it on the blocks around your own front door.