The sight of a humpback whale powerfully breaching from the ocean’s blue hue and the festive display of locally caught crab at the dinner table. These are two things that Californians treasure, and they’re not mutually exclusive. But whales and the California Dungeness crab fishery are both in crisis.

Whales are entangled in the lines and buoys of crab fishing gear in alarming numbers. Thirty-six whales were confirmed entangled last year in commercial fishing gear off California, Oregon and Washington, according to data from NOAA Fisheries — the highest entanglement numbers in six years. Scientists estimate 90% of whale entanglements go undetected and roughly 75% of reported whale entanglements are fatal.

An endangered humpback whale entangled in California commercial Dungeness crab gear in Monterey Bay was lucky to be successfully disentangled April 5 by a trained team of experts. The whale was entangled in multiple sets of heavy crab gear, including lines set earlier this year, and crab gear set last year. But just as we celebrate one whale being freed, another humpback whale became entangled earlier this month in Dungeness crab fishing gear set in Monterey Bay. Unfortunately, the season was open too long and vertical lines were still in the water when the whales returned from their seasonal migration. This entangled whale has yet to be sighted again.

It’s not only whales suffering. Local crab fishermen are taking an economic hit as their fishing seasons are condensed to avoid gear interactions with threatened and endangered whales. Over the past six years, fishermen missed their most lucrative holiday markets — Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s — and the Central California spring Dungeness crab fishery has been closed to conventional gear to allow whales safer passage. Smaller fishing operations have few alternative options, and many rely on the spring crabbing season, which normally runs through June. Given the sustained high number of whale entanglements, the fall and spring seasons for conventional crabbing are unlikely to return off Central California.

But there’s a renewed future for the spring fishery, whales and crab lovers. Fishing gear developers and fishermen pioneered a new way to fish for crab that virtually eliminates risk to migrating and feeding whales, called pop-up gear. This modernized gear design stores the rope and buoy with a string of traps on the seafloor until a release mechanism is triggered, sending the rope to the surface via a flotation device when fishermen are ready to retrieve their catch. Thanks to some tenacious, innovative individuals, pop-up gear moved from concept to reality. Last spring when the conventional crab fishery was closed to protect whales, 19 fishermen tested Sub Sea Sonics/Guardian Ropeless pop-up gear and landed 292,000 pounds of crab worth $1.5 million, with high reliability and minimal gear loss. More fishermen are participating in expanded trials with thousands of traps currently in the water and zero vertical lines or surface buoys. Monterey Bay waters opened to experimental pop-up gear April 16 following the closure of the season to conventional gear.

Monterey Bay area residents and restaurants can support fishermen at the forefront of re-innovating California’s spring Dungeness crab fishery by seeking out locally caught Dungeness crab at seafood markets. Next year, local springtime crab will become more widely available as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is slated to allow fleetwide approval of pop-up gear during conventional gear closures in the spring months based on the successful testing results so far. Local fishermen and conservation organizations are working together to pursue government funding to help fishermen acquire the gear.

Whales and crab are core to California’s culture and coastal economy, and we should all continue to work together to keep it that way.

Dr. Geoff Shester is California campaign director and senior scientist for the international conservation organization Oceana. He is based in Monterey and has been a member of the California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group that advises the state on preventing whale and sea turtle entanglements since 2015.