New gear could keep California crab fishermen on the water longer, and whales safe

After years of a shortened crab fishing season aimed at preventing whale entanglements off the West Coast, California crabbers are experimenting with a new fishing method that allows them to stay on the water longer while keeping the marine mammals safe.

The state has been running a pilot program since 2023 to try out so-called pop-up gear to protect whales while finding a solution to fishermen's woes and is expected to fully authorize the gear for spring Dungeness crab fishing in 2026.

The gear, which uses a remote device to pull up lines laid horizontally across the sea floor, also is being tried on lobster in Maine, black sea bass in Georgia and fisheries in Australia and Canada.

“Unfortunately, it has been six years we've been delayed or closed early for whales,” said Brand Little, a San Francisco Dungeness crab fisherman who is among those participating in the pilot.

"This is a way to get our industry back," he said.

The effort comes after reports of whale entanglements off the Pacific Coast spiked a decade ago during a marine heat wave. The change in temperature drove whales, many of them threatened or endangered humpbacks, to seek out food sources closer to the California coast, where they were caught in vertical fishing lines that had been strung between crab pots on the ocean floor and buoys bobbing on the surface.

In response, California state regulators barred Dungeness crab fishing when whales are known to be present. That shortened the season significantly, giving fishermen a narrow window in which to make a living. So some began trying pop-up gear and determined the method works and is worth the additional cost.

The gear lets fishermen use a remote-operated, acoustic release device to pop-up a crab pot from the ocean floor rather than have it tethered to a floating buoy. Pots can be strung together with ropes laid horizontally instead of vertically, so whales can pass over them while migrating through the area.

“If you remove the vertical line, you have removed the entanglement risk, and you have allowed a fishery to continue,” said Ryan Bartling, senior environmental scientist supervisor with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Many long-time Dungeness crab fishermen have been slow to warm up to the idea due to the cost, which can run $1,000 per pop-up device plus an on-board unit. It also takes time to restring the pots after an intense winter season of derby-style fishing, which takes place when whales are calving in warmer waters to the south.

There also is a need for a unified tracking system since the gear isn’t visible on the surface, Bartling said.

More than four dozen whales were entangled in fishing nets in 2015, compared with an annual average of 10 in prior years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Many were humpback whales, which were listed as endangered in the 1970s and have been recovering since protections were put in place, the agency said.

Environmental advocates sued California over the increased entanglements and reached a settlement with the state in 2019 that encouraged the use of ropeless gear.

Bart Chadwick, who owns San Diego-based Sub Sea Sonics, said he previously used pop-up technology to retrieve expensive equipment while conducting environmental work at sea. When he retired from his job, he made tweaks so it could be adapted for fishing.

“It allows them to fish in places they wouldn’t otherwise,” Chadwick said, adding the technology also reduces gear losses.

Most Dungeness crab fishermen make their money during the early part of the season when whales typically aren't near the California coast. Experts say the pop-up gear won't work then due to crowding and the technology is currently being considered solely for the smaller spring season, which starts April 16 in central California.

Geoff Shester, senior scientist at conservation organization Oceana, said he thinks the method could eventually be used more broadly if fishermen find it efficient and cost-effective.

“Think about electric cars, or hybrids, or even digital cameras," Shester said. "Every time you have a new technology, there is a lot of resistance at first.”

Crab fisherman Ben Platt said he was a vocal opponent but will join this year's pilot since multiple pots now can be strung together, making the method simpler and cheaper. Still, he said many fishermen have concerns and aren't likely to get on board.

“We’ll just have to see and take a look at the results,” Platt said.

For Stephen Melz, who fishes out of Half Moon Bay, California, having more time out on the ocean is key. Years ago, he said he would go out for Dungeness crab starting in November and fish through the spring.

Now, with the shortened season, he said there is no room for error and the gear helps him get out so he can pay his bills.

“Better than just sitting at dock,” he said.

A bird's shadow is cast on the ground of a storage area as Brand Little, background, loads crab traps onto his boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. Little is part of a pilot program trying out pop-up gear that prevents whale entanglements. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Pop-up gear that aims to prevent whale entanglements, right, is loaded onto the boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

James Sanders, left, and Brand Little, load crab traps onto Little's boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. Little is part of a pilot program trying out gear that prevents whale entanglements. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Hunter Nguyen, top, and Jonathan Tin, load pop-up gear that prevents whale entanglements onto the boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

James Sanders, left, and Brand Little, load rope onto Little's boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. Little is part of a pilot program using pop-up gear to protect whales. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

San Francisco Dungeness crab fisherman Brand Little wears a sweatshirt featuring his boat, Pale Horse, as he loads rope onto his boat at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. Little is part of a pilot program using pop-up gear to protect whales. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

James Sanders loads crab traps onto the boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. The boat's crew is trying out pop-up gear aimed at preventing whale entanglements. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Hunter Nguyen, center right, and Jonathan Tin, load crab traps onto the boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. The boat's crew is trying out pop-up gear aimed at preventing whale entanglements. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Pop-up gear meant to prevent whale entanglements while crabbing sits at Pier 45 before being loaded onto the boat Pale Horse in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Hunter Nguyen, right, and Jonathan Tin, load crab traps onto the boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. The boat's crew is trying out pop-up gear aimed at preventing whale entanglements. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Justin Middleton transports crab traps past pop-up gear, right, used to protect whales, at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

James Sanders zip ties crab traps before loading them onto the boat Pale Horse at Pier 45 in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. The boat's crew is trying out pop-up gear aimed at preventing whale entanglements. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

Pop-up gear, meant to prevent whale entanglements while crab fishing, front, sits on Pier 45 as James Sanders loads crab traps onto the boat Pale Horse in San Francisco, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)

President Donald Trump's administration announced a lawsuit Wednesday against Maine’s education department for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.

Also, a federal judge has said she'll order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her orders to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

Here's the latest:

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen arrived in the Central American nation Wednesday morning as part of a trip meant to assess the condition of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, according to a person familiar with his trip who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

In a video posted to social media prior to his flight, Van Hollen, a Democrat, said the trip was meant to highlight the importance of “due process” and “the rule of law” for all Americans.

The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran prison, a move administration officials have said was erroneous.

Rep. Riley Moore, a Virginia Republican, posted Tuesday evening that he’d visited the prison.

“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland,” Moore wrote on social media.

— Mary Clare Jalonick and Matt Brown

A prominent opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion programs is imploring President Trump to cut all federal money and strip nonprofit status at Harvard and other Ivy League schools that defy federal orders.

Conservative strategist Christopher Rufo said the government should respond to Harvard’s defiance with the same tools used to force desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement.

“Trump needs to follow through on his threat to defund one of the Ivy League universities,” Rufo said on social media Tuesday. “Cut the funding and watch the university implode.”

Harvard on Monday became the first school to openly defy sweeping orders from the Trump administration, prompting the government to freeze more than $2 billion in grants and contracts.

Rufo said Harvard has discriminated against white and Asian American students, citing events including graduation celebrations specific to certain ethnic groups, along with a 2021 theater performance exclusively “for Black-identifying audience members.”

She was asked at an unrelated news conference about the case of the El Salvador man living in Maryland who was wrongly deported to an El Salvador prison. The Supreme Court has said the administration must “facilitate” his release.

Bondi said the U.S. government would fly him back on a plane if El Salvador President Nayib Bukele wanted to return him.

“President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story,” Bondi said. Even if he were to return to the U.S., the government would deport him again, Bondi said.

“He would have come back, had one extra step of paperwork and gone back again. But he’s from El Salvador, he’s in El Salvador and that’s where the president plans on keeping him,” Bondi said.

The Trump administration has alleged he’s a member of MS-13. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations.

Vice President JD Vance says the trip will take place April 18-24.

In Rome, Vance will meet with Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who’s scheduled to visit the White House on Thursday. He’ll also meet with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

His India stops include New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, which is known for the Taj Mahal, and include meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Vance and his family will also visit cultural sites.

The vice president converted to Catholicism. His wife, Usha Vance, is the first Indian American person to become second lady. They have three young children.

And the World Trade Organization says that’s due to Trump’s shifting tariff policies and a standoff with China, but it would take a more severe hit if the U.S. president carries through on his toughest “reciprocal” tariffs.

The decline in trade will be particularly steep in North America even without the stiffest tariffs, the global trade forum said Wednesday, with exports there this year expected to fall by 12.6% and imports by 9.6%.

The WTO based its report on the tariff situation as of Monday. Initially, 2025 and 2026 were expected to have continued expansion of world trade, but Trump’s trade war forced WTO economists to substantially downgrade their forecast, the forum said.

▶ Read more about the WTO’s trade forecast

This morning, at 11:30 a.m., Trump will receive an intelligence briefing. Later this evening, at 6:30 p.m., he will attend an Easter prayer service and dinner.

It’s fueled by a spending spree on big ticket items from gadgets to cars before Trump’s expansive new tariffs started kicking in.

Retail sales rose 1.4% in March, after rising 0.2% in February, according to the Commerce Department. Retail sales fell 1.2% in January, hurt in part by cold weather that kept more Americans indoors, denting sales at car dealers and most other stores.

Excluding sales at auto dealers, sales only rose 0.5%.

Sales at auto dealers rose 5.3%, while electronics retailers had a 0.8% increase. Sporting goods retailers enjoyed a 2.4% gain.

But analysts expect sales will start falling off as the slew of tariffs increase costs for companies and many retailers are forced to raise prices, hurting shopper demand.

▶ Read more about U.S. retail sales

The administration announced the lawsuit Wednesday against Maine’s education department for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.

The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that’s led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told the president: “We’ll see you in court.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the legal action at a news conference in Washington alongside former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has emerged as a public face of the opposition to transgender athletes.

▶ Read more about the lawsuit over transgender athletes

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Paris this week for talks with European allies on U.S. efforts to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The State Department said Wednesday that Rubio and Witkoff would be in the French capital Thursday for the meetings, details of which weren’t immediately available.

The pair will have “talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump’s goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed.”

Rubio will also “discuss ways to advance shared interests in the region,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

Newsom is challenging Trump’s authority to impose a 10% tariff on all imports.

The state, which will file the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, will ask the court to immediately block the tariffs.

Newsom said the tariffs “are wreaking chaos” on Californians and threatening jobs in the state, which has the largest economy in the nation.

“We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue,” he said.

The Democratic governor previously asked countries to exempt California exports from retaliatory tariffs.

Trump said in a morning post on his social media platform that he’ll attend the Wednesday meeting alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” the president wrote.

Trump’s announcement last week of a 90-day pause on the latest series of duties put Japan’s 24% across-the-board rate on hold, but a 10% baseline tariff and a 25% tariff on cars, auto parts, steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. remain in place.

Japan’s chief trade negotiator, Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa, was traveling to Washington for the talks.

On Monday, Harvard became the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it demands sweeping changes to limit activism on campus. The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.

Both sides are digging in for a clash that could test the limits of the government’s power and the independence that has made U.S. universities a destination for scholars around the world.

But no university is better positioned to put up a fight than Harvard, whose $53 billion endowment is the largest in the nation. But like other major universities, Harvard also depends on the federal funding that fuels its scientific and medical research. It’s unclear how long Harvard could continue without the frozen money.

For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.

▶ Read more about the clash between Harvard and the Trump administration

Trump said he wants to give money and an airplane ticket to any immigrant who is in the country illegally who chooses to “self-deport,” and work to get those who are “good” back in the U.S., a break from his usual hardline immigration rhetoric.

Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to carry out mass deportations, said in a taped interview with Fox Noticias that aired Tuesday that his administration is focused right now on getting “murderers” out of the country. But for others in the U.S. illegally, he said, he’s going to implement “a self-deportation program.”

Trump offered few details about the plan, including timing, but said the U.S. would provide immigrants airfare and a stipend.

“We’re going to give them a stipend. We’re going to give them some money and a plane ticket, and then we’re going to work with them — if they’re good — if we want them back in, we’re going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can,” Trump said.

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on “self-deportation”

A federal judge said Tuesday that she will order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her orders to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued her order after Trump officials continually refused to retrieve Abrego Garcia. She said they defied a “clear” Supreme Court order.

She also downplayed Monday’s comments by White House officials and El Salvador’s president that they were unable to bring back Abrego Garcia, describing their statements as “two very misguided ships passing in the night.”

“The Supreme Court has spoken,” Xinis said, adding that what was said in the Oval Office on Monday “is not before the court.”

In her written order published Tuesday evening, Xinis called for the testimony of four Trump administration officials who work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

▶ Read more about Judge Xinis’s comments

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Commander-in-Chief trophy presentation to the Navy Midshipman football team in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks during the Commander-in-Chief trophy presentation to the Navy Midshipman football team in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)