The coastal commercial Dungeness crab season will be delayed further due to elevated levels of marine toxins, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Tuesday.

The season, which normally starts around Dec. 1 but was delayed initially due to toxin concerns and low meat content, will be closed “through Dec. 31, 2020 at least” from Cape Falcon, Oregon, north to the U.S./Canada border.

”This decision was based on domoic acid tests of Dungeness crab collected by (Fish and Wildlife) and analyzed by the Department of Health, which show that areas off Long Beach have crab with their viscera testing above the federal domoic acid action level of 30 parts per million,” said Dan Ayres, the department’s coastal shellfish manager. “A delay will allow (Fish and Wildlife) to conduct more testing to see if domoic acid levels drop prior to announcing the opening of the commercial crab fishery.”

The biotoxin monitoring plan requires two samples, seven to 10 days apart in which domoic acid is below 30 parts per million. The latest samples were taken this past weekend. While awaiting results earlier this week, Ayres told the Daily World the Department of Health was “concerned with levels of domoic that seem to be increasing, and while most areas remain just below the 30 ppm cut off, some of the crab are just barely below.”

The affect on crab comes after the department canceled razor clam digs because of high levels of domoic acid.

The latest results show the highest levels in four test pulls off Long Beach in Pacific County. Samples taken off the Grays Harbor County coast by the Quinault Indian Nation, which also uses the state Department of Health for testing, showed levels close to the allowable safe level of domoic acid or above.

According to Robert Morgan with Fish and Wildlife Region 6, because of the high levels of domoic acid in the Quinault Nation’s tests, the tribe has delayed its own commercial season and Wednesday was collecting more crab for more tests. Those results will be in Friday, when the tribe, not bound by the tri-state commercial Dungeness crab season agreement between Washington, Oregon and California that manages the non-tribal commercial fishery, will reassess its own season.

Licenses and vessels designated to those licenses that fish in the coastal commercial Dungeness crab fishery in the waters Point Arena, California to Cape Falcon, Oregon, before the area North of Cape Falcon opens will be subject to a 30-day fair start after the area to the north opens.