Recreational stone crab harvesters have numerous regulations to consider before they start trapping the crustaceans.
One of Florida’s favorite recreational and commercial saltwater harvesting seasons gets underway this month.
Stone crab season begins Oct. 15 and will remain open for commercial and recreational interests until May 2. Millions of dollars are spent by Floridians in retrieving stone crabs from state waters and millions more are made in selling the catch to the market.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC[1]) is encouraging stone crab enthusiasts to take the waters. But the FWC is also advising there are layers of regulations[2] for those who want to harvest the crustaceans.
To be caught, stone crabs must bear a claw size limit of 2 and 7/8 inches. Traps used to catch the crabs must be 2 and 3/15 inches in diameter and must be located within a “vertical exterior trap wall for all recreational and commercial plastic or wood stone crab traps.”
The FWC also advises recreational harvesters 16 years old or older, even those exempt from license requirements, to complete an online stone crab registration every year that they trap crabs. Recreational harvest can go to the website GoOutdoorsFlorida.com[3], where they can sign in then get a license with the online tab titled “Recreational Stone Crab Trap Registration.”
After the registration is complete, unique trap registration numbers are administered to each person. Those figures must be affixed to each trap, along with the name and address of the owner.
The FWC also has produced a video[4] explaining how harvesters can remove the claws so the crab is not permanently injured.
There are additional protections for the crabs that all those harvesting must be aware of.
“Claws may not be taken from egg-bearing stone crabs. Stone crabs may not be harvested with any device that can puncture, crush or injure a crab’s body. Examples of devices that can cause this kind of damage include spears and hooks,” an FWC news release said.
Commercial stone crab regulations[5] and licensing requires its own specifications and regulations.
References
- ^ FWC (myfwc.com)
- ^ regulations (content.govdelivery.com)
- ^ GoOutdoorsFlorida.com (gooutdoorsflorida.com)
- ^ a video (www.youtube.com)
- ^ Commercial stone crab regulations (myfwc.com)