Date: December 2, 2009

Scottish immigrants settled in a small village on the Straight of Juan de Fuca and named it Dungeness after their former home on the northeast coast of Scotland. The prized crab that inhabited this area of Washington state, later to be commercially harvested from the coastal sandy bottoms and rocky reef terrains ranging from central California to the Gulf of Alaska, became known as Dungeness crab. Aside from its place in the rich Pacific Northwest seafood heritage, we like to think of this meaty, sweet crustacean as the official crab of The Fish Market, featured in many of our recipes.

December 1st generally marks the start of the season for Dungeness crab up and down the California and Oregon coasts. They are caught in “pots” – circular steel traps that are dropped and pulled up from the ocean floor. Only mature males of a specific size are allowed to be landed. Juvenile males and all female crabs are returned to the sea. Because of method of catch and size restrictions, Dungeness crab fisheries are widely considered as models of sustainability.

The Fish Market will continue its own tradition of featuring fresh, whole Dungeness crab at our lowest price for the holidays. Our popular annual holiday crab sale, held for a specific number of days from the restaurant’s retail seafood market, is planned for the Palo Alto, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Jose and Del Mar/Solana Beach locations. The start date and length of time of the sale will depend, as usual, on weather, supply and other conditions in getting the crabs to market. So call your local restaurant for details and dates of the crab sale, and plan for another year’s cracking-good holiday feast.