As the delay of the recreational and commercial crab season opening continues to hammer the fishing industry, Shoreline Acres Preschool in Tomales also felt the blow last Saturday: it took in thousands of dollars less than usual at its annual crab feed fundraiser, which is the main source of funding for the nonprofit.

Now in its 12th year, the Crab and Pasta Feed typically raises between $8,000 to $10,000 for the preschool, from a mixture of ticket sales, table sponsorships and a silent auction, according to the director, Daphne Cummings. But lacking the crab from the usual sources such as Tony’s Seafood Restaurant, the preschool sold tri-tip instead. As a result, it reeled in just $6,300 after selling about 65 tickets—far down from the 190 sold last year. 

“It was kind of rough,” Ms. Cummings said. “We decided to go with tri-tip, and our ticket sales significantly plummeted.”

Last year, Ms. Cummings said, the preschool held the crab feed in February and received 150 pounds less of crab than expected. In response, the preschool pushed up the date to December this year, unaware of the imminent and disastrous delay.

Crab catching has been on hold along California’s entire coast since Nov. 5, due to unprecedented high levels of domoic acid—a neurotoxin capable of causing memory loss and, in severe cases, death among humans and marine mammals—in the meat and viscera of Dungeness and rock crabs. Recent tests on Dec. 8 around Point Reyes showed no sampled crabs exceeding legal limits for the toxin, but 83 percent of crabs in Bodega Bay near the Russian River tested on the same day breached the limit. 

“I don’t know when we’ll reopen,” said Charlton Bonham, the director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, at a hearing in Santa Rosa earlier this month. “We see good trends, but we also see high elevated hot spots.”

At Lawson’s Landing in Dillon Beach, co-owner Willie Vogler estimated earlier this month that the popular pier and boat launch had lost as much as $70,000 from the delay. Even so, Mr. Vogler said he would rather take a financial hit than risk crab-related illnesses, which could harm the industry.