A crewman aboard the F/V Harvester unloads fresh, live Dungeness crab Monday at Hallmark Fisheries in Charleston. - World Photo by Susan Chambers

CHARLESTON — The crab have arrived!

Commercial Dungeness crabbers brought in boatload after boatload of the crustaceans today, delivering their catches to processors in Washington, Oregon and California.

The crab are full of meat and the state-supervised price negotiations got the season started, but some crabbers are still trying to get moving. Rough weather prevented many of the smaller boats from leaving the dock, but some braved the 16-foot swells to catch as much crab as they could.

Tim Smith, who owns the Irish Miss, was one of them.

“It’s not all that great a year,” he said. “It’s about a normal year.”

Still, consumers will have fresh Dungeness in time for the holidays.

Read the full story in Tuesday’s World.