![Blue Crab Pot, Trap](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Blue_Crab_Pot%2C_Trap_.jpg)
Crab traps are used to bait, lure, and catch
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s for commercial or recreational use.
Crabbing
Crab fisheries are fisheries which capture or Fish farming, farm crabs. True crabs make up 20% of all crustaceans caught and farmed worldwide, with about 1.4 million tonnes being consumed annually. The horse crab, ''Portunus trituberculatus'', a ...
or crab fishing is the recreational
hobby
A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...
and commercial occupation of
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
for crabs. Different types of traps are used depending on the type of crab being fished for, geographic location, and personal preference.
History in the United States
Crab has been a viable food source since
Native Americans lived and fished on the
Delmarva Peninsula
The Delmarva Peninsula, or simply Delmarva, is a large peninsula and proposed state on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by the vast majority of the state of Delaware and parts of the Eastern Shore regions of Maryland and Virginia ...
. The
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
, which is known for their Chesapeake Bay blue crabs (''
Callinectes sapidus
''Callinectes sapidus'' (from the Ancient Greek ,"beautiful" + , "swimmer", and Latin , "savory"), the blue crab, Atlantic blue crab, or regionally as the Chesapeake blue crab, is a species of crab native to the waters of the western Atlantic O ...
'') derives its name from "Chesepiook", a
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people, also called the Conestoga by some English settlers or Andastes were Iroquoian Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, ranging from its upper reaches in the southern p ...
tribe word that means "Great Water". These Susquehannock natives led European settlers to some of the best places to catch crabs. Even early treaties between European settlers and Native Americans included provisions for the rights of "
Hunting
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
, Crabbing,
Fowling
Fowling is the hunting of birds by humans, for food (meat), feathers or any other commercially value products, or simply for leisure ("sporting") or collecting trophies. It is comparable to wildfowling, the practice of hunting waterfowls for f ...
, and
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
." Since then, generations of watermen made their living harvesting crabs and other resources along the Chesapeake Bay developing the most efficient method to catch crabs resulting in modern crab traps.
Since early European settlers in America, crabbing was an important food source to watermen of the Chesapeake and continues to be the source of income for many families. The
Alaskan king crab
The red king crab (''Paralithodes camtschaticus''), also called Kamchatka crab or Alaskan king crab, is a species of king crab native to the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. It was introduced to the Barents Sea. It grows to a leg span of , and is ...
fishing industry took off in the mid-1800s, and was one of the reasons Alaskans pushed so hard for statehood in 1959. Alaskans wanted to gain control of the area's
natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...
s, such as king crabs.
Benjamin F. Lewis invented the crab pot in the 1920s, patented it in 1928, and perfected it ten years later. The crab pot changed the way crabs are harvested on the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...
. The crab pot is the most common method used to catch and harvest crabs worldwide.
Commercial crabbing is a very tough and dangerous job, so it is very important that commercial crab traps catch as many crabs as possible to be able to turn a profit. Commercial crabbing is heavily regulated by local state laws to ensure that the crabs are not
over fished and that they are given enough time to breed and repopulate.
Unlike normal traps, commercial crab traps are large in size; some can easily be over 60" in diameter, allowing the trap to hold a larger amount of crabs than recreational crab traps. Commercial crab traps also contain a small
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
plate like a
dog tag
Dog tag is an informal but common term for a specific type of identification tag worn by military personnel. The tags' primary use is for the identification of casualties; they have information about the individual written on them, including i ...
, which identifies who the trap belongs to in case it is missed or swept by the current from its original location.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Japanese crab vessels were competition for Alaskan king crab fishermen in the
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
. Japanese crab vessels would crowd around cod boats, where king crabs devoured the fish waste. Ed Shields, a king crab fisherman was aboard a schooner at this time and recalls the Japanese encroaching on the
Bristol Bay
Bristol Bay ( esu, Iilgayaq, russian: Залив Бристольский) is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km (250 mi) long and 290 km, ( ...
fishing area. Ed Shields says that his father sent a telegram to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, ordering one dozen high-powered rifles for each vessel and one case of ammunition each.
Ed Shields states, "The coast guard didn’t care for this at all, the State Department didn’t care for it, but the news media did. It made good news. There’s no television at this time, but they did get in the national magazines like Time and Life. The adverse publicity to Japanese manufactured goods was so severe at that time from this campaign, the Japanese decided to pull out of Bristol Bay area and he sent a telegram saying, 'Bristol Bay is all clear now, Japanese gone home.'"
The
Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program was created by the
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission in 2004. This was created to remove derelict crab traps from state-owned lakes and river-beds and to reduce the potential impact from these traps.
There are also similar programs in other states. They are similar to the program in Louisiana where the traps are removed during a 30-day period. There are programs all over the Gulf Coast, including areas like Texas and Florida. These programs have also been successful with the help of volunteers working together, and over 30,000 derelict traps have been removed in Texas alone.
Types
The Maryland crab pot is an enclosed framework of wire with four openings. These openings are constructed so that when the crabs enter to eat the
bait, they cannot escape, and instead become immediately trapped. Once the crab becomes trapped and cannot leave the same way they entered, they float upward and go through the openings of the inner wire portion, which permanently traps the crab.
The Maryland crab pot is a cube, generally two cubic feet and when baited and weighted, might weigh fifteen pounds or more. Sometimes it is left on the bottom for twelve to twenty-four hours or more. The end of the
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
rope is attached to a marked floating
buoy
A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents.
Types
Navigational buoys
* Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...
so the location can be found and the pot retrieved.
The Maryland crab pot is baited from the bottom with several
oily fish
Oily fish are fish species with oil (fats) in soft tissues and in the coelomic cavity around the gut. Their fillets may contain up to 30% oil, although this figure varies both within and between species. Examples of oily fish include small ...
. This is done by turning the pot on its side, stuffing the bait into the wire container, and closing the opening by securing the flap under the rubber tubing. The pot is then dropped into the water and when the crab fisher returns, pulls the pot up and into their boat.
West Coast crab pots, which are primarily used for catching
Dungeness crab
The Dungeness crab (''Metacarcinus magister'') is a species of crab inhabiting eelgrass beds and water bottoms along the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood. Its common name comes from ...
s, vary slightly from the Maryland style crab pot. When the crabs enter either of the two funnel-type openings in search of bait, they are unable to exit through these funnel openings and become entrapped in the pot.
Ring crab traps are very popular along the
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
and
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
Coast. They are primarily used in river mouths and protected bays, but it is possible to use crab rings off the open shoreline. A crab ring is a simple piece of equipment that contains two wire rings that form the top and bottom of a collapsible basket. The lower ring is smaller than the upper ring and connected with a strong netting that forms the sides. Heavy
chicken wire
Chicken wire, or poultry netting, is a mesh of wire commonly used to fence in fowl, such as chickens, in a run or coop. It is made of thin, flexible, galvanized steel wire with hexagonal gaps. Available in 1 inch (about 2.5 cm) diameter, ...
, cotton webbing or other suitable materials are used for the bottom.
After the bait is tied securely to the bottom of the basket, the lower basket sinks to the bay bottom where the sides collapse and the top and bottom rings lie together, leaving only a flat platform of tempting bait that the crab can easily reach. After the ring has been left on the bottom, the crabber raises the ring rapidly by pulling up with a rope, which prevents the crabs from escaping while the basket is pulled to the boat.
Since the ring crab trap lays flat on the seafloor, there is nothing that prevents crabs from escaping before pulling it to the surface.
Pyramid crab traps are flat when lying on the bottom of the seafloor, but when raised to the surface, they form the shape of a
pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
. This trap is similar to the ring crab trap because there are no walls or cage that prevents the crabs from escaping before pulling it to the surface. The benefits of the pyramid crab trap over the ring crab trap is that the pyramid crab trap is slightly sturdier and can be used in waters with stronger currents.
Box crab traps are made from a strong non-collapsible
wire
Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
. The main advantages of this crab trap are that once the crab enters searching for the bait it cannot escape, guaranteeing a catch when the crab enters. Along with this comes the added bonus of not having to regularly check the trap. The down side of this trap is storing and transporting it since it does not collapse.
Trot line crab fishing was used exclusively by commercial crabbers from 1870 to 1929, but this method has since been almost entirely replaced by the use of crab pots and crab traps. A trotline is a baited, hook-less, long line that is usually anchored on the bottom and attached to anchored buoys. This
trotline
A trotline is a heavy fishing line with shorter, baited branch lines commonly referred to as ''snoods'' suspending down at intervals using clips or swivels, with a hook at the free end of each snood.
Trotlines are used in commercial angling an ...
is baited and after some time, the fisherman pulls the trotline up with crabs hopefully biting on the bait.
Environmental effects
A crab trap which becomes lost or abandoned (usually by accidental detachment of the float) becomes an ongoing environmental hazard. Crabs will continue to enter this
ghost trap to eat the bait, become trapped, and starve to death, attracting more crabs and other bottom-dwelling sea life; a single trap may kill dozens of crabs in this manner. For this reason, crab traps in many jurisdictions are required to have a "rot-out panel", a wooden panel the size of the largest entrance into the trap. This panel will disintegrate with a few weeks' exposure to seawater, opening the trap and allowing any crabs inside to escape. Other pots use biodegradable twine, that disintegrates within less than a week.
Whales become entangled in crabbing gear. They get entangled in the vertical lines between crab traps on the ocean floor and the surface buoys. For example, as of 2014 there was an increasing number of entanglements off the coasts of the United States. Management measures have been implemented by NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.
See also
*
Fish trap
A fish trap is a trap used for fishing. Fish traps include fishing weirs, lobster traps, and some fishing nets such as fyke nets.
Traps are culturally almost universal and seem to have been independently invented many times. There are two main ...
*
Lobster trap
A lobster trap or lobster pot is a portable trap that traps lobsters or crayfish and is used in lobster fishing. In Scotland (chiefly in the north), the word creel is used to refer to a device used to catch lobsters and other crustaceans. A l ...
Environment:
*
The Derelict Crab Trap Program The Derelict Crab Trap Removal Program was created by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission in 2004. This was created to remove derelict crab traps from state-owned lakes and river-beds and to reduce the potential impact from these traps. ...
References
External links
"Deadliest Catch - How Crab Pots Work" ''
Deadliest Catch
''Deadliest Catch'' is a reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The ...
''.
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. June 27, 2008.
{{Trapping
Fishing equipment
Crabs