Florida Stone Crab Season Begins October 15, 2013
Florida Stone Crab season begins on October 15, 2013. Here are the Stone Crab regulations per the Florida Fish and Wildlife website:
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Female Stone Crab With Eggs. Photo Credit: NOAA/NMFS |
Stone Crab Limits
- No females with eggs
- 2 3/4-inch claw
- Open season: Oct. 15 - May 15
- Bag limit: 1 gallon of claws per person or 2 gallons per vessel, whichever is less
Stone Crab Harvesting Gear
- It is unlawful to use any device on the taking of stone crabs that can puncture, crush, or injure the crab body, such as spears, grains, grabs, hooks, or similar devices
- Maximum of 5 stone crabs traps per person as described in the summary of stone crab trapping rules below
Stone Crab Trapping Rules
- 5-trap maximum
- Buoy must have a legible "R" at least two inches high, permanently affixed to it. Buoys are not required if trap is fished from a dock.
- Trap shall have harvesters name and address permanently affixed to it in legible letters.
- Traps must be pulled manually (not by a trap puller). Any vessel
that is rigged with a trap puller will be considered a commercial vessel
and the appropriate licenses will be
required. - Traps must be pulled only during daylight hours.
- Traps must not be placed in navigational channels of the
Intracoastal waterways, or in navigational channels maintained and
marked by any county, municipal, state or federal
governmental agency. - A Florida recreational fishing license is required to harvest stone crabs under the recreational fishing regulations.
- Stone crab trap specifications are the same for recreational and commercial harvesters. Trap specifications may be found in Rule 68B-13.008, Florida Administrative Code.
Can both stone crab claws be harvested?
Both
claws of a stone crab may be harvested lawfully if they are of legal
size. Although it is currently lawful to harvest both of a stone crab's
claws this practice leaves the stone crab with few alternatives to
defend itself from predators.
Although the crab
can still obtain minimal amounts of food with no claws, having one claw
(if the other one is harvested) will enable the crab to obtain greater
amounts of food in a shorter amount of time. Stone crabs (like other
crustaceans) have the ability to grow back their claws, but this process
requires a large amount of energy in the form of food.
The
quicker the crab can obtain the energy required to molt and grow its
lost claw, the sooner this renewable delicacy will have another claw to
replace the missing claw.