Seas the Day! Crabbers Could Become Crime Scene Cleaners With Free Training From PETA

For Immediate Release:
January 15, 2026

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

Following reports that California has delayed the start of the crab fishing season on its Northern coast due to elevated levels of domoic acid (a neurotoxin), PETA is offering qualified crabbers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: free training if they pivot careers. Specifically, PETA is offering to cover the costs of training for crabbers to become crime scene cleaners or pay for permits that would allow them to become claw machine operators—since those who work in the crabbing industry apparently enjoy violence, gore, and claws.

“Hauling crabs out of their watery homes and tearing them limb from limb is a sad, dead-end job,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is happy to help crabbers embrace a career change that leaves sea life in peace.”

In nature, crabs care attentively for their young, keep their homes clean, and defend neighboring crabs’ burrows against intruders. Captured crabs feel agonizing pain when their legs are damaged or torn off by workers who quickly rip them from fishing nets. Some mutilated crabs—who need their claws to feed and defend themselves—are tossed back into the ocean, where they suffer and die. The “survivors” end up in pots of scalding-hot water, where they’re boiled or steamed alive.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone looking to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.