Crab Thievery My Thoughts --> Stay Close

Crabbing Season is tomorrow and the weather looks perfect for the weekend. I'll jump on this topic because i know it will eventually be brought up -- It always does every year.

I've noticed an uptick in crab thievery over the last few years (Especially in the HMB area). I try keep a positive view of human nature but when your pots are empty and some ahole leaves an empty beer in your pots you know that you have been poached.  They are getting bolder and bolder each year, and i'm just not sure what the authorities are doing about it.

I know people are going to say " Stay close to your pots all day", but sometimes I like to leave them to soak overnight or when i go fishing at the reefs. Just seems like a shitty move by shitty people. The endless amounts of "Free crab traps at HMB" is just too much for them to resist.

TRENDS:
I've noticed an uptick around Thanksgiving and Christmas for poaching.

I guess just stay close to your pots and stay alert.

Open ended questions
What do you do to limit getting poached?
Can we catch these guys and publicly FLOGG Them?
Can we send a strong message letting them to know we are all watching?
Should we form a vigilant anti-crab poaching group to watch each others pots? LOL 
Should we petition DFG to put more enforcement on these punks? 

Feels like an endless cycle each year and what started as a fun/enjoyable experience is becoming out of hand.
Just my thoughts. --TLA

I for one think DFG should use Iong range cameras as they do for abalone diving and fish poachers and if they get caught take there boat. If your watching from a kayak they are gone before you can get to them. Out of all the good people always going to be a few bad eggs, And in speaking of a few bad eggs,loved the one you had moo eat.

So if you catch someone robbing your pots, realistically, what can you do?

Not too much.  I have never caught someone in the act, but have lost
pots when soaking overnight and all day.  I just think it's part of crabbing and write it off as a lost.  For me, the effort, anger and potential time wasted is not worth it.   

This might be an odd question, but is it technically illegal to pull someone else's pot? If you're on a pier or party boat and someone's rod goes off next to you and the rod's owner is nowhere to be seen, and you take the rod and reel in the fish, is that technically illegal?

I'm in no way defending crab thieves but I wonder if it's a difficult law to really enforce. I also haven't crabbed in a few years, so not sure if rules have changed that would make this easier to enforce.

I think painting your floats a distinctive color would help a little. Thief if caught would have a tough time saying it was a mistake, so they just might pass for easier takings.

I read somewhere that law enforcement will not take up the issue because recreational caught fish, crabs etc. are considered to have no value. I do not know if it is true or not. I wonder if the local sheriff would be more willing than Fish and Wildlife to take up the issue.

There is a pretty good crabbing article on Coastside and the author feels that most pot loses are due to error. If the pot is not properly weighted, right rope length, or float size the pot will walk away.

Crab pot sting operation?  waterproof, live-streaming camera attached to the pot with a wired exploding ball of blue dye.   

http://neptunemarineproducts.com/galvanic-timed-releases/
Maybe 123engineering can get a group buy going?

These were used successfully when my old boss was outplanting juvenile abalone in what he called “Abalone apartments”

The stress of being relocated causes abs to excrete a hormone other predators can hone in on
Once acclimated within a few days, the zinc would dissolve and open the  door allowing the abs to repopulate the immediate area

Crab pot sting operation?  waterproof, live-streaming camera attached to the pot with a wired exploding ball of blue dye.   

I was thinking Dye packs in the floats.. You could easily modify a pot to stay closed so no crabs get in it and put a pressure sensor in it to trigger a small explosion and shoot glitter or something out when removed from the water.. hmmm we need one of these for crab pots

Crab pot sting operation?  waterproof, live-streaming camera attached to the pot with a wired exploding ball of blue dye.   

I was thinking Dye packs in the floats.. You could easily modify a pot to stay closed so no crabs get in it and put a pressure sensor in it to trigger a small explosion and shoot glitter or something out when removed from the water.. hmmm we need one of these for crab pots

That’s a good vid if you’ve never seen it

Crab pot sting operation?  waterproof, live-streaming camera attached to the pot with a wired exploding ball of blue dye.   

I was thinking Dye packs in the floats.. You could easily modify a pot to stay closed so no crabs get in it and put a pressure sensor in it to trigger a small explosion and shoot glitter or something out when removed from the water.. hmmm we need one of these for crab pots

That’s a good vid if you’ve never seen it

OMG, that video is awesome!!! Revenge at it's best!

This might be an odd question, but is it technically illegal to pull someone else's pot? If you're on a pier or party boat and someone's rod goes off next to you and the rod's owner is nowhere to be seen, and you take the rod and reel in the fish, is that technically illegal?

I'm in no way defending crab thieves but I wonder if it's a difficult law to really enforce. I also haven't crabbed in a few years, so not sure if rules have changed that would make this easier to enforce.

It is currently against the law.

Crab pot sting operation?  waterproof, live-streaming camera attached to the pot with a wired exploding ball of blue dye.   

I was thinking Dye packs in the floats.. You could easily modify a pot to stay closed so no crabs get in it and put a pressure sensor in it to trigger a small explosion and shoot glitter or something out when removed from the water.. hmmm we need one of these for crab pots

That’s a good vid if you’ve never seen it

OMG, that video is awesome!!! Revenge at it's best!

Yeah... just like that.  lol

This might be an odd question, but is it technically illegal to pull someone else's pot? If you're on a pier or party boat and someone's rod goes off next to you and the rod's owner is nowhere to be seen, and you take the rod and reel in the fish, is that technically illegal?

I'm in no way defending crab thieves but I wonder if it's a difficult law to really enforce. I also haven't crabbed in a few years, so not sure if rules have changed that would make this easier to enforce.

It is currently against the law.

Another idea may be to make your buoy unmistakably your own - like a giant hot pink medicine ball or something.   

This might be an odd question, but is it technically illegal to pull someone else's pot? If you're on a pier or party boat and someone's rod goes off next to you and the rod's owner is nowhere to be seen, and you take the rod and reel in the fish, is that technically illegal?

I'm in no way defending crab thieves but I wonder if it's a difficult law to really enforce. I also haven't crabbed in a few years, so not sure if rules have changed that would make this easier to enforce.

It is currently against the law.

Another idea may be to make your buoy unmistakably your own - like a giant hot pink medicine ball or something.   

I put silver reflective aluminum duct tape on mine so i am pretty certain of my pots.  yet to see anything that looks like mine.

I prefer making your bouy look like some floating debris/kelp/etc and be less visible so thieves don’t see it.