Crab fishery

A crab fishery harvests wild or farmed crabs for food and other commercial uses. Its management regulates catch, fishing methods, and access to protect stocks and livelihoods.

Crab pot: A baited trap designed to capture crabs while allowing smaller animals to escape. Pots are a common gear type in commercial crab fisheries.
Alaska king crab fishery: A commercial fishery targeting king crab in Alaskan waters. Its seasonal openings and closures illustrate tightly controlled crab harvests.
Overfishing: Fishing at a rate that depletes a population faster than it can replace itself. Excessive crab harvest can reduce breeding populations and future catches.
Marine heatwave: A prolonged period when ocean temperatures are unusually high for a region and season. Heatwaves can alter crab survival, distribution, and the timing of fishing seasons.
Crab trap escape ring: An opening in a crab trap that lets undersized crabs escape before retrieval. Escape rings help fisheries avoid retaining crabs below legal size.
Dungeness crab fishery: A commercial fishery for Dungeness crab along the Pacific coast of North America. Its regional rules address season timing, size, and protection of females.
Ghost fishing: The continued capture of animals by lost or abandoned fishing gear. Lost crab pots can keep trapping crabs and other animals after fishing ends.
Ocean acidification: The decline in ocean pH caused mainly by seawater absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Acidification may impair shell formation in some crab species and affect stock productivity.
Minimum landing size: A legal threshold below which a caught animal may not be kept or sold. Size limits allow crabs time to grow and reproduce before harvest.
Blue crab fishery: Commercial and recreational harvest of blue crabs, especially in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. This fishery depends on estuarine habitats and varies with environmental conditions.

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