Florida’s recreational and commercial stone crab season in state and federal waters will come to a close Sunday, May 2, with the last day of harvest being Saturday, May 1.
This season’s closure date was shortened from last year’s as part of a series of changes made in response to a long-term decline in harvest and because the stone crab fishery is likely undergoing overfishing, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
These changes are intended to increase the stone crab population and build resiliency in the fishery, according to the FWC.
The FWC rule changes also included increasing the minimum size of the claws allowed to be harvested, extending the post-season trap retrieval period from five days to 10 days, requiring a roughly 2-inch escape ring in all plastic and wood stone crab traps before the 2023-24 stone crab season begins, and limiting space to store stone crabs on boats before claws can be removed to 24 cubic feet.
The increase in claw size has had many fishermen complain about a loss in profits because it eliminates the harvest of medium-size claws, which are a bigger seller because they are not as expensive as jumbo and large-size claws.
FWC fisheries biologist Ryan Gandy could not say Thursday if the new rules have impacted profits and harvest as the FWC is still calculating the catch for this season, which started Oct. 1.
Conch Key-based commercial fisherman Capt. Gary Nichols called this season mediocre to average. He estimated that his profits were reduced because of the claw size increase.
He averaged about a half pound per trap each day, which equated to most days harvesting between 200 to 400 pounds of claws, he said.
Stock Island-based commercial fishermen Capt. George Niles said the harvest of claws off the Lower Keys was down significantly this season and he described the price fishermen received for claws as “OK.”
For more information on harvesting stone crabs for recreation, trap specifications, commercial stone crab regulations and licensing information, go online to http://www.MyFWC.com/Marine.
May 01, 2021 at 11:00AM
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Stone crab season closes | Local News | keysnews.com - KeysNews.com
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