Keeping Dungeness Crab Females

November 18, 2010

Question: I see on many websites that you cannot take female Dungeness, but I see in the regs no comment about females. Have the rules changed now allowing females can be kept? (E.J. K.)

Answer: Recreational fisherman may keep the female Dungeness crab – commercial fishermen must throw them back. Since the females are often so much smaller and less meaty than the males, many fishermen toss them back so they can reproduce more young for future generations. The larger females that meet the minimum size requirements also carry the most eggs and produce the most young, so it makes sense to let females go as a matter of course. However, there is no law that compels you to do so.