Crab fest shines spotlight on B.C.’s Dungeness fishery at trying time

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False Creek Crab Fest

When: July 26 from 12-4 p.m. Where: False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf

No, there won’t be anyone in a crab costume at this year’s False Creek Crab Fest. But there will be plenty of crab to go around, along with live music, games, educational booths and an opportunity to connect directly with local fishers.

They’ll be easy to spot, says Megan Eadie, executive director of B.C. Crab Fishermen’s Association (BCCFA). “They’ll probably still be wearing their fishing gear. They’ll have been out fishing that morning and come back just before the event, so they’ll likely still have their rain gear and boots on.”

Now in its fourth year, the False Creek Crab Fest is a co-production of the BCCFA and Chef’s Table Society. Like the annual Spot Prawn Festival, the Crab Fest celebrates the bounty of our local waters.

Worldwide, there are 4,500 species of crab. But only a few are household names — Dungeness, King and Snow. King crab, known for its enormous legs, is more expensive and usually steamed with butter.

Snow crabs have smaller, thinner legs, a mild, delicate flavour and are popular at buffets and seafood restaurants. Dungeness, found along the Pacific coast of North America, is prized for its sweet flavour and high proportion of meat. Usually sold whole, it’s used for crab boils, pasta, salads, chowders and cakes.

The centrepiece of the festival is the crab boil by local chefs, including Vish Mayekar of Elem Restaurant and Johnny Bridge, president of Chefs’ Table Society. Guests can indulge in whole locally harvested crab paired with B.C. craft beverages.

Eadie, who has a degree in environmental studies from UBC, has been with the association since the first Crab Fest in 2023. “Organizing it was one of the first projects I worked on. We’d wanted to host something like this in False Creek for a long time, and it took a while to get it going.

Now it’s going strong.” The association was inspired by the success of the Spot Prawn Festival, which began in 2006. “It has done such an excellent job over the past 20 years of getting British Columbians excited about spot prawns.

We hoped to do the same thing for Dungeness crab.” Looking back, Eadie says the first Crab Fest went smoothly for an inaugural event.

“We had enough food for everyone. The commercial fishermen brought in more crab than we thought we’d need. Throughout the day, they cleaned the crab as we needed it, while keeping the rest alive.

Being right there on the water made that possible.” Two years ago, Chefs’ Table Society, which also co-produces the Spot Prawn Festival, came on board.

“The event has gotten even better since then. They’re incredibly experienced at running food festivals and they’ve really elevated Crab Fest.”

An event like the Crab Fest is an effective way of educating the public about the fishery. Most of the fishery’s boats are individually-owned, with licenses passed down for generations, rather than processor-owned, she says. Tariffs imposed by China last year have heavily impacted the industry.

The country buys about 90 per cent of B.C.’s crab exports. “We lost roughly 45 per cent of the export value of our crab last season — about $70 million.

That’s an enormous hit. Some fishermen were getting as little as $6 a pound, whereas a healthy price would be over $10 a pound.” She hopes people who come out to the festival “leave excited to eat more crab — whether that’s cooking it at home or ordering it in restaurants.

“I also hope people realize there’s a local commercial fishery right in the heart of Vancouver. Many people don’t realize that False Creek is still an active fishing harbour, where you can buy crab, prawns and other seafood directly from the wharf.”