The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1960-08-12
lCRABS. ONCE MUCH
IDESPISED. NOW ARE
|OF GREAT IMPORT
Tremendous Income to N. c.
Fishermen Since Virginia Sup
ply Grows Less Plentiful
By WADE LUCAS

1t is business that has grown
\ considerably, especially during the
] past five years as more and more
commercial fishermen seek out
and catch these fast moving
animals" which are found most
ly in sounds, rivers and other out
let's to the sea.
II The hard blue crab industry in
the State began to grow by veri-
table leaps and bounds after the
State Board of Conservation and
Development legalized the use of
crab pots to catch the crabs sew
eral years ago.
These pots, which are baited with
fish, helped increase the catch of
crabs tremendously. Trot lines,
also baited with fish, are used to
lure the somewhat vicious crabs
to their doom. Travis are also
utilized to catch what DR.. Austin
B. Williams, crustacean investi-
gator for the Institute of Fisheries
Research Of Morehead City, calls
"animals of the sea-"
Preliminary figures for 1859 as
compiled by the U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and obtained from
DR.. A. F. Chestnut, director, In
stitute Of Fisheries Research,
unit of the University of North
Carolina, show 14,73S,9O pounds
of crabs were landed on North
Carolina shores last year.
In 1856 the total number landed
amounted to 8,345, 900 pounds. In
1910 the total was 4,007, 300
pounds.
80 Million Crabs
Since the average weight of n
hard blue crab is about one-half
pound, DR.. Williams estimates 80
million or more hard blue crabs
found their way to picking tables
in crab processing plants along the
North Carolina coast last year.
| Along with sharp increase in the
catch of hard blue crabs in State
waters has come a big jump in
processing and packing plants. Such
plants aare located in Marshall
berg, where Percy T. Davis now
has " persons on his payroll in
an operation he started only last
year; at Belhaven, where Clyde
Potter has developed big bust
ness in crabmeat; at Wanchese in
Dare county; and in several other
places along the coast.
Unfortunately, the consumption
lof crabmeat by North Carolinians
is nothing to boast about to any
appreciable extent. Most of the
crabmeat, which is graded claw,
lump and special, is exported to
other States. Percy Davis at Mar
shallberg sends practically all his
crabmeat to Baltimore jobber, but
it is consolation to know that
Davis packs his product under a
North Carolina label as Potter and
some others also do.
The State, through its Division
Of Commercial Fisheries of the
Department of Conservation and
Development, exercises control of
the crab fishery in North Caro-
lina's inland waters. The Depart
ment collects tax of ten (10)
cents per 120-pound barrel on crabs
landed on State shores. Violators
of crab regulations are prosecuted
under law.
Crab fishermen are not permit
ted to take crabs of less than three
inches in width. Nor can they
legally take female crabs during
spawning seasons. Crabs spawn
twice year. A female crab can
lay up to three million eggs in
one spawning. They spawn in salt
water in or near the ocean.
Mortality among the embryonic
crabs is tremendous. A compare
lively few survive to reach MATURE
ty, but once they reach that stays
they can protect themselves rather
well dSdLlSb tHSlT StieuileS S6ck~
ing to devour them. If it survives
humans and others seeking It, the
average crab lives about three
years.
While the crab catch is tremen-
dous, DR.. Williams does not think
it foreshadows an eventual drop
in the population. ssThere is no real
evidence that everlasting for
crabs is cutting down the CATCH"
he said.
Maryland has long been the
premier state for catches of hard
blue crabs, which range from as
far north as Massachusetts to as
far south as Brazil.
The 1858 crab catch in Mary
land amounted to 27,O95 400
pounds, in North Carolina IL
amounted to 12,514,O00 pounds; in
Virginia the figure was 17,75s, 500;
in Florida it was $4,000; in South
Carolina 1t was 4,9O0.00O; and in
Georgia it was 9.O72 .O0(, Tha.a