Crab season is upon us. Truly it is always crab season as they don’t close but our prime time to catch them in the shallows is during the warmer months, mainly May - November.
They stay in deeper waters in the cooler months are are harder to catch. The easy way is to drop a crab trap over and leave overnight. The fun way is with crab ring nets or crab dip nets. Ring nets can be fished from piers, docks and bridges. You can dip net crabs in the surf and along the bay. It is best at night using flashlights and is great fun with the kids.
Recreational fishers age 16 and older (including those normally exempt from needing a license) are required to complete an online, no-cost recreational blue and stone crab trap registration before using blue or stone crab traps.
To register, visit GoOutdoorsFlorida.com and add the Recreational Blue Crab Trap Registration or the Recreational Stone Crab Trap Registration to your account.
Upon completion, each person will receive unique trap registration numbers that must be included on each trap along with the owner’s full name and address. Registration numbers for blue crab traps will begin with the letter “B”; registration numbers for stone crab traps will begin with the letter “S”.” This information must be legible and must be permanently attached to each trap.
This no-cost registration will allow FWC to collect important information about these recreational fisheries needed for future stock assessments and management decisions. Traps must be registered annually but unique registration number will not change year-to-year.
Florida Regulations Gulf and Atlantic State Waters
Size Limit: None
Daily Bag Limit: 10 gallons whole per harvester per day
Harvest of egg-bearing crabs prohibited
Gear Requirements:
Legal Gear: blue crab trap (max. 5 per person), dip or landing net, drop net, fold up trap, hook and line, push scrape, trotline
Note: Crab snares are not considered legal gear for blue crabs in Florida.
Trap Specifications:
- Maximum trap size is 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet or a volume of 8 cubic feet
- Mesh size must be 1 1/2 inches or larger
- The throat or entrance cannot extend farther than 6 inches into the inside of any trap
- Must have at least three escape rings, one of each located on a vertical outer surface adjacent to each chamber
- Escape rings must be larger than 2 3/8 inches
- The trap must have a degradable panel larger than 3 inches by 6 inches
- Types of degradable panels include: untreated jute twine, non-coated steel wire measuring 24 gauge or thinner, untreated pine dowel no larger than 2 inches in length by 3/8 inch in diameter or untreated pine slats no thicker than 3/8 inch
- Harvester name and address must be permanently affixed to the trap and legible
- NEW: FWC-issued unique trap registration number must also be permanently affixed to the trap and legible
- The buoy must be no smaller than 6 inches and must be marked with a legible “R” that is at least 2 inches tall
Trapping Regulations:
- Traps must be pulled manually (not by a mechanical trap puller). Any vessel that is rigged with a trap puller will be considered a commercial vessel and the appropriate licenses will be required.
- Traps must be pulled only during daylight hours.
- Traps must not be placed in navigational channels of the Intracoastal waterways, or in navigational channels maintained and marked by any county, municipal, state or federal governmental agency.
- No harvest allowed with any trap out of state waters (seaward of nine nautical miles from shore in the Gulf of Mexico or seaward of three nautical miles from shore in the Atlantic Ocean).
