By

 crab trap

Come on Novmber 30th. GET. HERE!

November 30th is the day the Canadian fisheries and oceans have decided to close the 2013 commercial crab fishing season. Finally!

It’s the same date as last year, but this year the legal size (6 1/2 inches) of Dungeness crab stock seems  to be more depleted than ever.

I know the crab fishermen have a job to do and I also know they provide many yummy meals to those who can or won’t go fish for crabs themselves. Speaking of themselves…

This post is pure selfishness, mixed with a lot of venting. You can stop reading now and move on.

I have been out on the water a few times in the last couple of weeks with hardly even a whiff of a crab. Not only that, two of our traps have been stolen or the line has been cut. I don’t know who or what happened to our traps but I do know that some (not all) commercial crabbers have a reputation for cutting trap lines if they are in the way of their millions of traps. This could have happened or some other crabber, like me, was a little bit frustrated by their small catch and decided to pull up other traps.

The lack of crabs in our traps recently is rare for us. It really sucks to be skunked over and over.

I have a great crabbing secret spot that isn’t so secret anymore. The commercial crabbers for Dungeness crabs are taking the bay over like a storm.

This is incredibly frustrating to all the recreational crabbers like me. Before the commercial crabbing season started our traps were full. As in we would leave the traps set for two hours and flip a coin on who would have to pull them up. Our traps were heavy and pulling them up was difficult, yet always rewarding.

I know the commercial crabbers have a job to do and this is their lively hoods were talking about but it still pisses me off when I see a crabbing boat coming up beside our boat and throwing in trap after trap after trap. It’s no wonder there are no legal size male crabs left in the Bay once the commercial season wraps up. They have taken every last one of them.

I miss the crab feasts that seem like such a long time ago now.

*Updated- I now have a new spot to go crabbing where there aren’t any commercial crabbers in the area. It’s an hour and a half boat ride, but so worth it. Hello delicious crab feasts!

 

Return from Commercial Crabbing to How to Crab Home