Once a crab pot has settled on the bottom, crabs walk into tunnels on its sideand metal triggers snap behind them, trapping them inside. Round holes in the side of the pot give smaller crabs a chance to escape. Since males reach reproductive age at 2 but usually aren't harvestable size until age 4, they have two years to mate. A soft cotton cord on a metal hook holds the pot's lid closed. If the pot is lost or abandoned, the cord will gradually dissolve, to prevent a lost pot from catching crabs indefinitely.
Risks come along with the unknown.
Everyone in fishing knows someone who hasn't come back from a trip and has had at least one close call of his own. Walen was on two boats that were destroyed. Hines lost nearly a inch off the end of his left index finger when a pot line wrapped around it, pinching the fingertip off inside his glove. This season's take may be about half that. Most work other fisheries or different jobs later in the season.