Is this legal?

[pip]

Is it legal for commercial crabbers to lay traps so thick that you can not drive in any direction for more than a hundred feet without having to swirve to avoid running over a pot float? If you watch the boats driving down the bay you will inevitably see them swirve dramatically to avoid the pots. This is how the bay is potted from chincoteague bay to the route 50 bridge in Ocean City Md. Two weeks ago I was getting a bushel a trip once a week after 3-4 hours work. Now that the commercials have moved in I can hardly scrape 2 dozen out in the same amount of time. One person crabbing for 3 hours a week can't compete with a bay carpeted with commercial traps being fished 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Seems wrong that such a limited fishery like the coastal bays is forced to compete on the open market with a relatively limitless fishery like the Chessapeake. The commercials on the coastal bays are forced to crab harder and more aggressively just to keep up and scrape together a living while the relative bounty on the chesapeake drives prices down putting more pressure on the coastal bays. Just seems wrong to me.

[procrabber]

typically the crabs drop off in the oceanside in the summer.  may or may not have much to do with the pots.  it is perfectly legal, and to most seasoned boaters, even if they are not recreational crabbers, it is a bit laughable to suggest that the commercail crabbers dont make a living, all the seafood dealers and restaurants stop selling crabs, nobody else eats crabs, and the entire economy of many coastal towns collapses just so somebody on their bayliner doesnt need to look out for a crab pot when they are boating.      sorry, every time i get more sarcastic.  I understand your point and your frustration.  crab away from the pots.  there are more big crabs away from the pots and more small crabs around the pots.  comm guys set their gear where there are a lot of crabs, not really where there are big crabs.  i would rather catch 20 bushel of 2's than 2 bushel of ones.  and look at it this way, at least you are not the comm crabber trying to make a living and you have this much competition.  though you would be suprised.  ive crabbed with pots every 30 feet in every direction for miles and still would catch 20+ crabs in a pot.  sometimes it amazes me how many crabs are out there.  good luck and find a new spot

[Felinis]

Pip:

Your commercial crabbers cannot pull their traps or post or run trotlines on Sunday or Monday, just like you may not crab on Wednesdays. 

They also can only pull them from sunup to 9 hours after sunup.

Their traps may still be there over the Sun/Mon break, and from 3 PM till sunset, but they cannot work them.  So, those are the times that you will have to yourself without dodging commercial vessels.

[Islander]

Procrabber,
Sarcasm is great. But, I hope you don't ready think the seafood industry would collapse if you stopped crabbing tomorrow. The Chesapeake Bay may have the best crabs in the world.
But, there are other places to get crabs for the seafood industry. Also, I'm glad you are making such a good living. I'm guessing your in the southern part of the Bay ( Deal Isle maybe ) . But, not every comm. lives down there and from the Mid- Bay / North thing are hit and miss. These guys are the ones that aren't making a living. Maybe they should move your way, since there are amazing amounts of crabs and new spots to be found.
Just a little sarcasm on my part. 

[Seaweed]

This is just one more example of too many people living too close together and too many people all wanting to use, and abuse, a resource.  Unfortunately our culture has changed from fishing and agriculture based, to white collar computer information superhighway b.s., and guys like Procrabber now have to deal with 65' scarabs plowing through his pots as he's beating himself to death to make a few $.  Give the guy a break, and get out of his way.

[procrabber]

actually, let me explain my situation.  i am a full time graduate student researching fish and oyster immune system.  i fish usually less than 200 pots in the southern bay hopefully 2 times per week, but lab schedule dictates what i can get done.  on days i go, i get up at 2:30am and drive 2- 2 1/2 hours to the lower eastern shore from downtown baltimore.  i crab the entire crab season from late april to hopefully november, so im not one of the guys who puts it down when the going gets tough.  besides you can not live on graduate stipend alone.  so in the time im not working the water, im trying to lead to some research that will benefit the bay.  if you had to ask me if i was a scientist or a waterman, id have to think for a while, but id answer waterman.  until recently i crabbed the upper bay, and although you make a lot of money in late summer, i go south for the longer season. there are a good number of northern bay watermen who trek to the southern bay daily in the spring and fall.  some dont think it is worth it.  as far as the crowds go, more people mean more people who buy crabs but more people who catch them too, so it balances out. you really need to learn to roll with the punches. pots get torn up, people steal from you, your boat breaks down, you get crowded out by other crabbers, the market is low, the catch is low, your crew quits... etc...etc, after a while you just stop caring about all that [curd].  hey as long as the rent gets paid. some days you make a bundle, others you work all day and lose money.  as far as the crab supply drying up if we dont crab this area, crabs come from other areas as well, where there is just as much crabbing and just as many recreational boats.  im pretty sure my pots are not in many peoples way since there are rarely people fishing or rec crabbers in my area. 
at least i get to see the sun rise, right?

[Seaweed]

It means more people to buy your crabs, but it also means more people flushing their [shiz] in the water, more people living in high density housing that creates toxic runoff, more people sitting in traffic for 4 hours in SUVs trying to get over the $*%#ing Bay Bridge, more people using and abusing....

But you've got a wood thing going Procrabber, and I wish I could have done the same thing when i went to graduate school.  Instead of crabbing, I stayed up all night making pizzas.  Not exactly the same as being on the water.

Need a mate?

[Islander]

procrabber,
Thanks for explaining your situation. Reading some of your posts, I never would have guessed you were a graduate student from Baltimore.

There are a couple of things I not sure about though.

1) In your first post to this subject you said, " It is a bit laughable to suggest that commercial crabbers don't make a living.", then you say, " Some days you make a bundle, others you work all day and lose money."

2)Also, In your first post to this subject you said, "I've crabbed with pots every 30 feet in every direction for miles.", then you say, " I fish usually less than 200 pots."

[procrabber]

procrabber,
Thanks for explaining your situation. Reading some of your posts, I never would have guessed you were a graduate student from Baltimore.

There are a couple of things I not sure about though.

1) In your first post to this subject you said, " It is a bit laughable to suggest that commercial crabbers don't make a living.", then you say, " Some days you make a bundle, others you work all day and lose money."

2)Also, In your first post to this subject you said, "I've crabbed with pots every 30 feet in every direction for miles.", then you say, " I fish usually less than 200 pots."

well yes.  one day you make two weeks pay and the next two weeks you dont make anything= a normal living.  like being a gambler for a living.  actually, usually it works like you make a years living ina month and the rest of the year sucks.  the only problem is i=you dont know which month you will make anything.

as far as the crab pots every 30 feet for miles in all directions. they are not all mine.... well 200 are but the rest are all the other comm guys.  where i am has few rec boaters or crabbers but a [Sam Hill] of a lot of comm boats.  some how i dont mind since i know a lot of them and they are all good people.

[Islander]

Procrabber,
Thanks for clearing that up. Your OK in my book. 

[pip]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Procrabber: unfortunatly there is no where to crab away from the pots, unless I want to run 10 miles south (out of the question for my small boat). I have been crabbing thses waters for a long time and I know from experience that the crabbing around here drops off in mid to late August and then picks up again in mid Sept for a few weeks, so I have little if any doubt that the drop in my catch is due to competition not nature.

Either way it doesnt matter I guess, they will continue to do what they do and the little guys will have to deal with it. I love crabbing either way.

Thanks