Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

[dems4me]

Originally posted by Ken King
I've lived within a mile of 3 DNR officers for almost all the time I have been in St. Mary's (one, that just retired, is my next door neighbor) and I have run into them on the river, had my catch (and boat ) inspected, have watched them ticket others and have seen an impound resulting from the inspections. While it might not happen often, it does happen.

Thanks for the warning... I've been stopped before by them twice when I was fishing another river, but never in the where I crab.

The only time I was ticketed suckkked.
Me and my friends had just put the boat in -- rode about a mile... got to a good catfish spot... casted out the baid, locked in the rods, popped open a few cans of stfu(s), gfy(s) and one special stfub and low and behold... here comes dnr... turns out I had everything that you needed to have with you, I just neglected life jackets... I got a $50.00 ticket for every person on the boat that didn't have a life jacket -- got to the pier and in an effort to salvage the day... had to shell out top dollars for the convient shop's lifejackets at the pier....

 

[Angel]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by sleuth14
True... but how difficult is it to switch from selling crab to selling some other type of seafood? It seems to me it would be an easy switch, more on par with "You have to work in this building on the base instead of that building on the base, but you'll be doing basically the same thing", but then I don't know anything about crabbing.

My Father, his Father, and many other men I knew growing up were/are water man. They do plan ahead for the months they won't be working, but basically these men have spent their entire lives living off the water. It's not as simple as just not doing it and doing something else. That's what they know how to do best. They spend the summer saving their money in case the Oyster harvest doesn't do well by them and vice versa.... It's a hard way to live, but they do it because that's what they love. My Dad paints boats and houses when work get's slow, but he's not a rich man by any means and definitely needs the money he earns. If it's planned out well enough in advance I'm sure all these folks who live this way will make it work for them, but switching buildings on base is way different.... JMO....

 

[Angel]

Originally posted by Tonio
Why do seafood lovers even eat female crabs? I've tried them and the meat tastes powdery.

I've never noticed a difference between the male and female crab meat, but I know that others do.

 

[dems4me]

Originally posted by Angel
I've never noticed a difference between the male and female crab meat, but I know that others do.

I do... I can't stand the females...

 

[sleuth]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by Angel
My Father, his Father, and many other men I knew growing up were/are water man. They do plan ahead for the months they won't be working, but basically these men have spent their entire lives living off the water. It's not as simple as just not doing it and doing something else. That's what they know how to do best. They spend the summer saving their money in case the Oyster harvest doesn't do well by them and vice versa.... It's a hard way to live, but they do it because that's what they love. My Dad paints boats and houses when work get's slow, but he's not a rich man by any means and definitely needs the money he earns. If it's planned out well enough in advance I'm sure all these folks who live this way will make it work for them, but switching buildings on base is way different.... JMO....

So what if they were given several years notice. :shrug: Perhaps the policymakers could announce restrictions to be implemented 3 years from now.

 

[Angel]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by sleuth14
So what if they were given several years notice. :shrug: Perhaps the policymakers could announce restrictions to be implemented 3 years from now.

Yeah, they should all be ready to retire by then, so sure... <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_1_107.gif' border=0></a>

 

[Christy]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by sleuth14
So what if they were given several years notice. :shrug: Perhaps the policymakers could announce restrictions to be implemented 3 years from now.

Okay Sleuth, how about if the world decided to put a halt to all engineering related jobs for a year, how'd that sit with you? How about if you'd been an engineer your entire life, supported your family doing engineering all this time. How easy would it be for you to just find something else to do for a year to earn an income. :shrug:

 

[sleuth]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by Christy
Okay Sleuth, how about if the world decided to put a halt to all engineering related jobs for a year, how'd that sit with you? How about if you'd been an engineer your entire life, supported your family doing engineering all this time. How easy would it be for you to just find something else to do for a year to earn an income. :shrug:

That's not what I'm trying to say...

I'm asking for an education about crabbing vs other types of fishing. I don't know the difference... I mean... as far as I know, fishing for perch uses the same equipment as fishing for crabs - the same boats, the same nets, the same bait, whatever... I don't know the first thing about either one, so I can only assume they're similar.

What I'm saying is... how hard would it be for them to simply fish for something else?

To my knowledge, it's on par with my boss coming to me and saying, "I need you to be on the P-3 this year instead of the H-1." I really don't have a choice but to get up to speed on the P-3 and do it. I still use the same skills, the same resources, I just have to learn a new aircraft. :shrug:

If anyone could explain the major differences between crabbing and other types of fishing, maybe I'd change my mind??? :shrug:

 

[Angel]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Crabs - Appears To Be Steady

Originally posted by sleuth14
That's not what I'm trying to say...

I'm asking for an education about crabbing vs other types of fishing. I don't know the difference... I mean... as far as I know, fishing for perch uses the same equipment as fishing for crabs - the same boats, the same nets, the same bait, whatever... I don't know the first thing about either one, so I can only assume they're similar.

What I'm saying is... how hard would it be for them to simply fish for something else?

To my knowledge, it's on par with my boss coming to me and saying, "I need you to be on the P-3 this year instead of the H-1." I really don't have a choice but to get up to speed on the P-3 and do it. I still use the same skills, the same resources, I just have to learn a new aircraft. :shrug:

If anyone could explain the major differences between crabbing and other types of fishing, maybe I'd change my mind??? :shrug:

It's all good.. I just grew up on a watermans boat, so here ya go... There crabbing:
http://www.blue-crab.org/catching_crabs.htm
Oystering and dredging:
http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/waterman/wat009.html
fishing:
http://www.fishingworld.com/

 

[dixychik]

www.coventryheirlooms.com

 

[Angel]

Originally posted by dixychik
www.coventryheirlooms.com

WTF?

 

[mainman]

She won't be here long...

 

[tugboater]

Ok I'am going to throw my teo cent's in on this.Me and my dad crab for along time for a living.Are measuing stick we used was 5 3/4 it was 3/4 longer then we need thats way the small crabs had a chance and you didn't have to worry about getting a trouble from the dnr.I knowfor a fact when were crabbing there where watermen from va and other places there attuidde was we over fished where we lived so now we are coimg to over fish you river and wipe them out.It's just not over fishing the crabs there's alot of other things that are hurting the crabs.I know for a fact that a few years ago when they had that oil spill down near the power plant it hit one of the biggest breeding grounds in river .I hear there coming back but I sorry I don't want eat anything from there.Yes if we are not careful the crabs will be gone like the oysters and like blue fish.

 

[dems4me]

Originally posted by tugboater
Ok I'am going to throw my teo cent's in on this.Me and my dad crab for along time for a living.Are measuing stick we used was 5 3/4 it was 3/4 longer then we need thats way the small crabs had a chance and you didn't have to worry about getting a trouble from the dnr.I knowfor a fact when were crabbing there where watermen from va and other places there attuidde was we over fished where we lived so now we are coimg to over fish you river and wipe them out.It's just not over fishing the crabs there's alot of other things that are hurting the crabs.I know for a fact that a few years ago when they had that oil spill down near the power plant it hit one of the biggest breeding grounds in river .I hear there coming back but I sorry I don't want eat anything from there.Yes if we are not careful the crabs will be gone like the oysters and like blue fish.

Was my dnr friend correct when he said that introducing rockfish to this area depleted alot of the crab population because they were eating the crab eggs?

 

[Jameo]

Originally posted by dems4me
Was my dnr friend correct when he said that introducing rockfish to this area depleted alot of the crab population because they were eating the crab eggs?

Rock fish also love some lil' softshell crabs too. But yeah rock fish have probably hurt the crab population.

 

[Ken King]

Originally posted by dems4me
Was my dnr friend correct when he said that introducing rockfish to this area depleted alot of the crab population because they were eating the crab eggs?

Introducing rockfish? They've been here longer then any of us. Now the moratorium several years ago and the change in size limits have made them more plentiful and they eat the heck out of the crabs.

 

[dems4me]

Originally posted by Ken King
Introducing rockfish? They've been here longer then any of us. Now the moratorium several years ago and the change in size limits have made them more plentiful and they eat the heck out of the crabs.

I was referring to the patuxent... a friend of mine at DNR stated that they introduced rockfish to this part several years ago and it decreased the crab population -- that's why I was asking if this was fact or not.

 

[Ken King]

Originally posted by dems4me
I was referring to the patuxent... a friend of mine at DNR stated that they introduced rockfish to this part several years ago and it decreased the crab population -- that's why I was asking if this was fact or not.

Well the Patuxent is connected to the Chesapeake which is connected to the Atlantic and the "Striped Bass" aka Rockfish have been around for years. Your buddy at DNR must be a real wizard.

 

[pixiegirl]

Hey Ken. Is Rockfisk (aka stripped bass) the same thing as the Stripped Sea Bass I catch when I go deep sea fishing in GA? The look kinda alike I guess though I've honestly never really paid too close attention to either.

 

[Jameo]

Originally posted by dems4me
I was referring to the patuxent... a friend of mine at DNR stated that they introduced rockfish to this part several years ago and it decreased the crab population -- that's why I was asking if this was fact or not.

Ken is right - rock fish have been in the Patuxent forever. Several years ago u could not catch & keep ANY rock fish at all, stayed that way for a few years until the rock population was replenished. With the larger rock population, it has been hurting the crab population.