Pregnant "she crab"

[jrccrab]

You are a pistol! I like your attidude.

Sorry, attitude!

[surfpico]

Sorry, attitude!

Well, thank you kindly.

Honestly though... I'm going to start calling the DEC from now on. I gotta get the number and put it in my phone, because some of these people totally ruin it for me. Either that or I'm just gonna start kicking their buckets of crabs back in the water. That would work too.

Yeah, so what if I'm from NY - and so what if I'm gonna get shanked... it's all worth it for the crabs!

[nadapesca]

I understand that there is no real way to know if the female has spawned. There's always doubt. With that in mind, how many of those eggs survive and become mature crabs. Looks like hundreds of thousands of eggs, and maybe a few hundred survive. So if you keep a female and don't know for sure if she's spawned out, then maybe you've eaten several hundred crabs in one sitting with only the taste and nutritional benefit of one. It's legal, go ahead if you want. Yesterday, my son and caught about 4-5 dozen between 8:00 AM and 11:30 that were legal. We put all females back and also all males 5 inches and under. If you counted the females with eggs and obvious shorts, we had almost a bushel. We wound up with three dozen 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 males, all heavies. That's a lot of meat. But we threw back what could be the equivalent of thousands of crabs. It doesn't matter what the comms do or what your neighbor does, or what anybody does. You do what you feel is right. If enough felt that way, someday, there's going to mucho crabs around, just like when I was kid.

I've  both PA and Jersey CO cell numbers on my cell and I have used them and seen results. If it's you I see keepin the shorts and eggbearers, I'll rat on you. Guess what, a CO can ticket you for abusing a crab, legal or not. Kicking, throwing (mean like) , anything considered abusive. In Jersey, it's called "wanton destruction of a species" I called a CO a few years ago at the Shark River Inlet. Seems the Sea Robins were plentiful but pissing off some of the people fluking. They started smashing them on the steel bulkhead on the western side of the drawbridge and then threw them in the river where they floated.  A couple of people complained and these fine upstanding morons said they're  trash fish. I called the CO who happened to be crossing the very same bridge that I was next to. He got my name and location and within five minutes, had witnessed those two scumbuckets. Even had a small video of them in action. Ticket time! It's not always that easy, but if I see it, I report it.

[surfpico]

I called the DEC the other night.

Had no problem doing it.

[Pinchy]

nadapesca,

Thank you for looking out. I don't understand people who hunt and fish, but who have no respect for the animals they are harvesting. These are not sportsmen; they are sadistic cowards. Yeah, I'm judgmental. And I'm not averse to confronting an abuser with a follow-up call to a Conservation Officer. BTW, the average blue crab sponge holds about 2 million eggs, but that can vary from 750,000 to 8 million. The female can spawn two to three times, but interestingly mates only once and stores the sperm for subsequent broods. The sponge is bright orange early on, gradually turning black as the embryos develop. The crab population does not rise and fall as a result of harvesting legal females; the restricting factors are food supply, overfishing, temperature, and water quality. In other words, even if every female survived, that does not necessarily mean there will be "mucho crabs around" if space, food, and water quality are lacking. Plenty of animals are disappearing without any hunting pressure whatsoever. NJ is now doing a good job of improving water quality and as a result we are enjoying much better crabbing.

[Pinchy]

I called the DEC the other night. Had no problem doing it.

You're not usually this coy. How about filling out the story with some grisly details?

[Crab King]

nadapesca,

Thank you for looking out. I don't understand people who hunt and fish, but who have no respect for the animals they are harvesting. These are not sportsmen; they are sadistic cowards. Yeah, I'm judgmental. And I'm not averse to confronting an abuser with a follow-up call to a Conservation Officer. BTW, the average blue crab sponge holds about 2 million eggs, but that can vary from 750,000 to 8 million. The female can spawn two to three times, but interestingly mates only once and stores the sperm for subsequent broods. The sponge is bright orange early on, gradually turning black as the embryos develop. The crab population does not rise and fall as a result of harvesting legal females; the restricting factors are food supply, overfishing, temperature, and water quality. In other words, even if every female survived, that does not necessarily mean there will be "mucho crabs around" if space, food, and water quality are lacking. Plenty of animals are disappearing without any hunting pressure whatsoever. NJ is now doing a good job of improving water quality and as a result we are enjoying much better crabbing.

So your calling everyone who hunts or fish's sadistic cowards?

[nadapesca]

So your calling everyone who hunts or fish's sadistic cowards?

I think you should actually read what he wrote. He was writing of people that have no respect for the animals they hunt or fish. This is not a PETA board.

[Pinchy]

I think you should actually read what he wrote. He was writing of people that have no respect for the animals they hunt or fish. This is not a PETA board.

Thanks nadap,

You are correct. I've decided not to bother replying to the posters who cannot construct a simple sentence, figuring that if they can't write, they can't read. Of course we were discussing the abusers who kill shorts, etc.

[DrummerDave]

When i catch females i honestly take them and tie them to the inside of the box net. Put some make up and a bit of eye liner on them and they help me catch some of the biggest males out there. This is not cruel it works out for everyone. It helps reproduction. Helps me catch crabs in a different way. And come on even crabs get horny.



PS- we've really tried this before. Dont remember how it worked out. Def didnt kill the female though.

[surfpico]

When i catch females i honestly take them and tie them to the inside of the box net. Put some make up and a bit of eye liner on them and they help me catch some of the biggest males out there. This is not cruel it works out for everyone. It helps reproduction. Helps me catch crabs in a different way. And come on even crabs get horny.



PS- we've really tried this before. Dont remember how it worked out. Def didnt kill the female though.

You would...you would.

[tattoo]

  :laugh:OK.

[DrummerDave]

You would...you would.

haha what do you mean? Come on if you ran out of bait, that would be your only hopes in catching crab.  haha

[DrummerDave]

:laugh:OK.

haha come on tattoo whats your thoughts on that method? That would work , No? haha

[tattoo]

Can't say No , because i NEVER run out of bait 

[jerseypete]

throw 'em back, there are plenty of male crabs out there.

[CaptMoose]

Here's why I no longer keep females.  A little edjumahkashen can go a long way. 

From: http://www.bluecrab.info/lifecycle.html

Mating

Female blue crabs mate only once in their lives, when they become sexually mature immediately following their pubertal molt (immediately following this molt, the female is known as a "sook.") When approaching this pubertal molt, females release a pheromone in their urine which attracts males. Male crabs vie for females and will carry and protect them, called "cradle carrying," until molting occurs. Following this molt, when the female's shell is soft, the pair will mate. During mating, the female captures and stores the male's sperm in sac-like receptacles so that she can fertilize her eggs at a later time. Once the female's shell has hardened, the male will release her and she will migrate to higher salinity waters to spawn.

http://www.bluecrab.info/spawning.html    The average sponge contains about two million eggs, but may contain anywhere from 750,000 to 8 million eggs, depending on the size of the crab. The sponge is formed in about two hours and is roughly one third the size of the female crab's body.


That's enough reasons for me to preserve the females.  Mates only once, forms sponge in about 2 hrs, contains 3/4 - 8 million eggs PER SPAWN.  Showing sponge or not, she may develop a sponge by the next tide.  There are plenty of males out there to catch.  If I were to kill a few dozen females each year, that's a few less million crabs next year.

[genecrabman]

Someone is miss leading you about sooks getting a sponge in 2 hours, it takes months for them to get a sponge... Heck, they ain't even HARD in 2 hours

[R D]

I wasn't even going to waste time typing on this subject anymore Gene,too many "experts" for me to argue with. Here is a good read for y'all,just carrying it another step.

http://kennysideshow.blogspot.com/2008/07/like-little-satans-we-are.html

[CaptMoose]

All that info was from the BCA.  But no matter how long it takes to develop a sponge, the sheer number of eggs that will be lost by me harvesting a female is a good enough reason not to take any.