Crabs gain access to the enclosure through a tunnel or door. The doors or tunnels may be triggered to form a one-way entrance. Ring nets are simply a circular frame holding a bag of web. Crab are captured in the web bag when they cross the edge of the frame and the frame is lifted. Traps and ring nets are baited with fish, squid, clams, offal, or fish food pellets.
Crabs enter the trap or ring net to feed on the bait or to investigate other crab activity.
Ring nets are fished on single lines. Traps may be fished singly or on long lines with multiple traps. Size limits are used as the primary conservation measure in the Dungeness crab fishery. In British Columbia the size limit is 165 mm across the maximum breadth of the carapace. The size limit is designed to protect sexually mature male Dungeness crab for at least one year prior to harvest.