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Volume 14, Number 3 • May-June 1996
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The Summer of '96:
Maryland Blue Crab Regulations

"The crabs need a day off as much as we do," says a waterman in Tom Horton's new book about Smith Island, where there is traditionally no fishing on Sunday. As of June 17, new Maryland regulations call for just that, a day to give the crabs a break. Commercial crabbers will have to choose either Sunday or Monday as a no-crabbing day, and they will have to affix a sign (SUN or MON) to let everyone know which day they are taking off.

Recreational crabbers using collapsible traps or trotlines will have to take Wednesday off, to relieve some of the pressure on blue crabs. (Exceptions for both commercial and recreational crabbers will be granted on State and Federal holidays.) The regulations form part of new efforts by Maryland and Virginia to regulate rising fishing pressure on the popular crustacean.

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Highlights of Maryland's Regulations

Commercial

  • The Maryland crab season runs from April 1 through November 30.
  • Commercial crabbers must take off either Sunday or Monday.
  • There must be two different-sized cull rings in hard crab pots, one at least 2-3/16 inches and the other at least 2-5/16 inches.
  • The minimum mesh size for hard crab pots is increased from 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches.
  • Peeler pots can only be baited with live male crabs.
  • The importation of late-term sponge crabs, illegal in Virginia, into Maryland is prohibited.

Recreational

  • The recreational crab season runs from April 1 through November 30.
  • Recreational crabbers using collapsible traps and trotlines must take off Wednesdays.
  • No license is required for recreational crabbing, but sport crabbers can catch only one bushel of crabs a day per person, or two bushels per boat.
  • It is illegal to possess an egg-bearing (sponge) crab in Maryland.
  • Recreational crabbers cannot set or fish a trotline or collapsible trap within 100 feet of a commercial trotline.
  • Recreational crabbers cannot sell crabs without a commercial license.




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