Water Grill | Stories | About Dungeness Crab

January 9, 2025

The waiting game hurts. But when Dungeness crab season opens each year, it’s worth it. Dungeness crab isn’t just a staple on our seafood plates, though. Here at Water Grill, they’re practically a fixture -- from our saltwater tanks to raw bar and seasonal preparations.

An Introduction to the Dungeness Crab

WHAT IS A DUNGENESS CRAB?

As renowned as they are for their flavor, few people know just how important Dungeness crab is to the West Coast. Of crabs in the Cancer genus, Dungeness (Metacarcinus magister) is the largest edible species (and one of the tastiest!)Dungeness crab has a mildly sweet flavor with a firm but delicate texture. Even though Dungeness is the most abundant crab in California, its availability is limited and regulated. And for good reason.

HOW IT STARTED

The first commercial harvest of Dungeness crab occurred in 1848 off the coasts of San Francisco and Washington. Its presence and cultural significance was felt long before that. The Dungeness fishery involves some of the great West Coast placenames in seafood. Crabs are caught in places like Bodega Bay, Port Townsend, Coos Bay, Astoria, Newport and Willapa Bay – just to name a few.

The Dungeness crab's relationship with communities of the West Coast has been traced back to coastal Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest. The Nuu-chah-nulth specifically would catch it and use it as an economic resource. It wasn’t until the late 1700s before European settlers first made it to the entrance of the Puget Sound, where the Spaniard Manuel Quimper found the spit, which became nicknamed the “Shipwreck Spit”. Ignoring the Spanish “discovery” of the spit, on April 30,1782, British explorer George Vancouver was reminded of a similar sandy projection on the Southeastern English shoreline and named this Puget Sound sandbar “New Dungeness”.

HOW DUNGENESS CRAB GOT ITS NAME

The Dungeness Spit, a jetting sandbar on the inlet to the Puget Sound that creates a shallow bay, is where these crustaceans take their name. Dungeness crab has historically been abundant in this preferred habitat: sandy- or soft-bottom areas around tidepools as deep as 300 feet. Some have been found as deep as 750 feet.

While they get their name from this area in the Pacific Northwest, Dungeness crab can be found all the way north near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands continuing down to Santa Barbara, Calif., with occasional sightings as far south as Magdalena Bay in Mexico. Although they’re caught both recreationally and commercially in Northern and Southern California, their population greatly decreases when you go south of Monterey Bay, Calif.

 

Dungeness Washington crab fishery viewed by Satellite
Dungeness, WA viewed by satellite

CRABBING SEASON

Dungeness crabbing season occurs along the West Coast, typically from late fall to the following summer. Each state has its own fisheries management, and the opening of the season often fluctuates due to conditions in their waters, including migratory whale patterns. When the season opens up, it will often be sequenced for recreational and commercial fishing.

 

HOW IT WAS CAUGHT THEN

The Coast Salish peoples, a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous People of the Pacific Northwest, would typically catch their Dungeness by hand (well, spear actually). Men would patrol shallow waters in canoes and use spears to pierce their carapaces and bring them up from the sand.

 

HOW DUNGENESS CRAB IS CAUGHT NOW

While using diving gear is more common when collecting these crabs by hand today, most fisheries will use crab pots or traps – which is the preferred method of catching before it's delivered to our restaurants via our exclusive seafood distribution company. Up until the1940s, a typical harvest was done using crab rings or hoop nets. Only mature male crabs may be harvested to allow the females to continue to reproduce. It takes about four years to reach the market size of 6.25 in. across its carapace(or shoulder-to-shoulder so to speak.) At Water Grill, the minimum size offered is 1.75 lbs.

 

Careful management

Beyond these specifications of careful harvesting, the Dungeness crab populations are hardly stable and need careful management by state agencies to determine when it is safe for the populations to be harvested.

Here’s the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season by state: 

 

Alaska:

Typically December to May

California:

Typically mid- to end-November through end-June/mid-July, though the start of the season has been delayed to December/January in recent years

Oregon:

Typically December to August

Washington:

Typically December through September

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE: HOW TO TELL A DUNGENESS

 

There are a few markers that separate a Dungeness crab from its scuttling siblings. You’ll notice that the top of a Dungeness shell has a light reddish-brown color with hints of purple towards the back. Compared to other crabs, the underside of a Dungeness will be a lighter orangish-white color.

You can also spot a Dungeness by its claws and pincers. Where, typically, you’ll find that most crabs have black-tipped pincers, the Dungeness pincer tips are white and saw-toothed, like its carapace (the back/body of the crab).

WANT TO TRY IT YOURSELF?

Steamed Dungeness Crab at Water Grill

All this talk about this delicious crab pique your appetite? Come into Water Grill to experience what it’s like to eat this West Coast shellfish in an elevated way. Have it chilled or steamed – always served with crab butter, of course – or try it in a Cioppino. This fisherman-inspired stew features a range of seafood, including shrimp, clams, mussels and Dungeness in a way that heightens this homemade-style dish. Check out our daily menus and reserve a table now.

Dungeness Crab from Raw Bar Water Grill Seafood
Dungeness Crab from the Raw Bar

Packed Like Sardines - A History Equally Full of Flavor

March 15, 2024

What if we told you “It Happened In Monterey” was actually about tasting sardines for the first time?

It’s not. But Monterey, California is deserving of its own anthem for bringing the pelagic schooling fish into pop culture. Two Steinbeck novels, lyrics in a Bob Dylan song and serving as the backdrop to a Nick Nolte film aren’t enough.

Sardines are celebrating a resurgence, and it’s one that we hope is here to stay.

History

Long before Californians were swooning over sardines, Lisbon put them on the map. Chalk it up to another Roman “discovery”. Romans first settled Lisbon in 19 BC and discovered the fish in abundance along the coast. It quickly became a staple of the local diet and has persevered centuries later for the Portuguese.

Sardines have enjoyed a rich history ever since, with the innovation of canning – in France, by Nicolas Appert – taking them global. In fact, in 1836, it’s estimated that the Breton coast in Northern France was producing about 30,000 tins of sardines. By 1880, that number skyrocketed to 50,000,000 tins – each packed by hand.

Tin Fish Sardines with Olive Oil
Photo by Towfiqu Barbhuiya

It’s during this boom that sardines came stateside. But the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 pumped the brakes on imports. As necessity is the mother of invention, American entrepreneurs capitalized on the opportunity. Commercial canning on the East Coast began in 1875. (It was actually Atlantic herring, but let’s not get hung up on specifics.) Maine embraced the sardine more than any other state on the East Coast, with over 400 sardine factories at its peak. None remain in the state today.

While the East Coast had Sardineland (their word, not ours) and Atlantic herring, the West Coast had Cannery Row (in Monterey, California) and Pacific sardines. The season was bigger out West too, running from October to March.

At its peak from 1936 to 1945, the factories in Monterey were producing an average of 332,000 tons (over 13,000,000 tins a year). However, by the late 1950s, workers had left, sardine fishing had nearly ceased and the fish had all but disappeared. In 1967, the fishery was closed.

From 1967 to 1986, a commercial harvest moratorium on Pacific sardines was enforced. Restrictive measures were adopted in Portugal as well, as sardine stocks fell below target biological levels in 2009.

Whole Sardinespacked in ice

They’re back (and on the menu!)

Populations of Pacific sardines began to recover in the 1980s, thanks to strict fisheries management. Today, it’s regulated, and commercial fishing allowances fluctuate based on the population trends of the fish.  

Tough measures in Portugal appear to be bringing the critical fish back from the brink as well.

Our dish at select Water Grill destinations is an homage to the “Sardine Capital of the World” in Monterey as well as the rich tradition and quality of tinned products in Portugal. We present the sardines on a wood board and accompany them with a traditional vegetable escabeche, preserved lemon-manzanilla olive relish, lemon slices, butter and toasted baguette.

Portuguese Sardines en conserve at Water Grill
Portuguese Sardines en conserve at Water Grill

Our sardines come to us from Conservas Pinhais, one of the oldest preserving factories in Portugal, which follows an artisanal canning method it developed over 100 years ago in 1920.

Nuri Portuguese Sardines from Conservas Pinhais

Further Reading

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