Using Crabs to Catch More Crabs

January 15, 2015

Question: It is legal for boaters fishing crab traps to pull their limit of 10 Dungeness crabs and then leave any extra legal-sized crabs in the pot for harvesting the next day? Those crabs left in the trap may help encourage other crabs to load up in the traps to take another day. Is there anything illegal about this? (Jayna S.)

Answer: It is not legal for someone to take their limit and leave additional crabs in their trap(s). Sport fishermen are allowed 10 Dungeness crabs per day and in possession. It doesn’t matter where the crabs are being held, whether on board a boat or in a trap or at home in the freezer. If they are being confined and held in a trap for another day, it is still considered “possession” and counts toward their limit.

how can someone determine whether a crab was left in the trap or if it walked in after the pot was re-deployed?

going to be interesting to see how they enforce this reg...

how can someone determine whether a crab was left in the trap or if it walked in after the pot was re-deployed?

going to be interesting to see how they enforce this reg...

The question was asked as a hypothetical so that was the answer. The only way to enforce would be if they were watching you and saw you leave crabs in or put measured crabs back in the trap. Doesn't seem likely, but the correct answer still is, its illegal.

This has got to be extremely far down on the "list of shit I care about" for enforcement officers.

So are you saying if I have 5 in freezer, that counts towards my daily limit? Even if my freezer is 100 miles away?

So are you saying if I have 5 in freezer, that counts towards my daily limit? Even if my freezer is 100 miles away?

Yup.

So are you saying if I have 5 in freezer, that counts towards my daily limit? Even if my freezer is 100 miles away?

Technically it counts toward your possession limit. Daily limit and possession limit are the same number, but they are different violations. You can be over possession limit but not over daily limit (5 in the freezer, take 10) and you can be over daily limit but not over possession limit (catch 3, cooks and eat them, then catch 10 more in the same day).

That's why I had kids! To get thirty of them damn things! AND, they wanted a pet deposit.

Guess I'll just start filling my neighbor's freezer.

That brings up a lot of thorny issues. Say you are a party boat guy but it could be any boat, and go out of Bodega with you party of ten. You have 15 traps set out there. You pull 10 and have limits for everyone on board plus 5 more in the last trap you pull. Buy this reading you are supposed to release those five. What about the other 5 traps you haven't even pulled. You can reasonably expect to have 40 or 50 more crabs in those traps and you are possessing them underwater.  So are you supposed to pull all the traps and empty them out. I bet they don't do that. And even if they did pull and rebait the traps they would have crabs in them before the reached the dock.

That brings up a lot of thorny issues. Say you are a party boat guy but it could be any boat, and go out of Bodega with you party of ten. You have 15 traps set out there. You pull 10 and have limits for everyone on board plus 5 more in the last trap you pull. Buy this reading you are supposed to release those five. What about the other 5 traps you haven't even pulled. You can reasonably expect to have 40 or 50 more crabs in those traps and you are possessing them underwater.  So are you supposed to pull all the traps and empty them out. I bet they don't do that. And even if they did pull and rebait the traps they would have crabs in them before the reached the dock.

I don't think this would count. In the original question the person has pulled the traps and puts the crabs back in or leaves them in. With your scenario you would be over your possesion limit while the traps were still on the bottom if all 15 traps had ten keepers in them. We know that they don't count as part of your possesion limit until you bring up the trap and choose to keep or release them.

That brings up a lot of thorny issues. Say you are a party boat guy but it could be any boat, and go out of Bodega with you party of ten. You have 15 traps set out there. You pull 10 and have limits for everyone on board plus 5 more in the last trap you pull. Buy this reading you are supposed to release those five. What about the other 5 traps you haven't even pulled. You can reasonably expect to have 40 or 50 more crabs in those traps and you are possessing them underwater.  So are you supposed to pull all the traps and empty them out. I bet they don't do that. And even if they did pull and rebait the traps they would have crabs in them before the reached the dock.

Boat limits only apply to finfish, not crabs. So as soon as you pull 10 crabs, you are done and have to release any more crabs you pull. But the other people in your party can continue pulling your pots until they get their limits.

That brings up a lot of thorny issues. Say you are a party boat guy but it could be any boat, and go out of Bodega with you party of ten. You have 15 traps set out there. You pull 10 and have limits for everyone on board plus 5 more in the last trap you pull. Buy this reading you are supposed to release those five. What about the other 5 traps you haven't even pulled. You can reasonably expect to have 40 or 50 more crabs in those traps and you are possessing them underwater.  So are you supposed to pull all the traps and empty them out. I bet they don't do that. And even if they did pull and rebait the traps they would have crabs in them before the reached the dock.

You could expect that many crabs in your unchecked traps, but if you never looked, the quantum waveform wouldn't collapse and you wouldn't actually _know_ if the cat were dead or alive.

...the thought made me laugh.

Anyway, until some DFG guy tells us they care, those unchecked traps aren't going to count against you.  DFG would have to pull them and look and I've never heard of them doing that.

The unchecked traps are both full and empty at the same time afaik.

What the afaik are you talkin bout?