Crabbing with a buddy

I have a friend who have a long and narrow sit-in kayak and wants to go crabbing with me.  With such narrow kayak, he does not carry any traps of his own or bucket to hold the catch.  He will help with sorting crabs and place it onto the bucket on my yak.  In this situation, is it legal to have a 2 person limit since all the crabs are on my yak?  We have been crabbing for rock crabs and kept a one person limit and divide among us, as I'm not sure if we can keep a 2 person limits.

Probably not... I wouldn’t risk it during dungy season, wardens can be a real sticklers...

Probably not... I wouldn’t risk it during dungy season, wardens can be a real sticklers...

Now, I get to convince him to get a sit on top kayak and bring his own trap.

My brother and I crab together and I dont think it should be an issue if we both have a fishing license. We kayak out and in together of course. Sometimes I'm holding both our limits or vice versa. I would challenge that in court any day. But that's me 

Crabbing brings a decent risk of a tip over. A small sit inside kayak in the ocean when crabbing sounds dangerous, but that's his decision.

With that - A warden could absolutely tag you with over limit by regulation. You'd be gambling big time if they got laid that morning or not. Most likely not.

another option would be for him to put his crab into a mesh lobster style game bag and drag that along. Although that makes paddling a good bit harder, you can always pull it up on deck during your paddle sessions and throw it back in when needed.

Seems like a pretty clear "overlimit in possession" situation, even though that is not your intent. 

To me, it also might be risky if you are the only one pulling traps.  Maybe sorting them is enough to count as fishing?  I've never thought about that scenario before, but a super by-the-book warden MAY be able to claim he isn't crabbing by just sorting "your" catch and keeping crabs you pulled up... who knows.

I wouldn’t risk it during dungy season, wardens can be a real sticklers...

A warden could absolutely tag you with over limit by regulation. You'd be gambling big time if they got laid that morning or not. Most likely not.

+1

Sometimes I'm holding both our limits or vice versa. I would challenge that in court any day. But that's me 

If you have the extra time/money to fight it, and are willing to risk a possible suspension of your fishing license, I'm honestly curious how this would play out.

Mrs. Tiffany (Warden) at Doran would write you up in a heart beat.   Keep crab separate in each kayak.   

I don't think our game warden would write you up at trinidad for that.  It's a pretty clear technical violation though and I wouldn't trust an unknown warden to not give a ticket. 

Thanks for all the replies.  Its best I just carry my own limits as I don't want to get a ticket, even though we both go out and in at the same time. 
He does have outriggers on his kayak, so tipping over is non issue. 

One of the best Wardens on the payroll.   It’s almost a joy to get a ticket from Ms. Tiffany.

She’s cool.