Crab traps

Crab traps are used to bait, lure, and catch crabs for commercial or recreational use. Crabbing or crab fishing is the recreational hobby and commercial occupation of fishing for crabs. Different types of traps are used depending on the type of crab being fished for, geographic location, and personal preference.

Crab has been a viable food source since Native Americans lived and fished on the Delmarva Peninsula. The Chesapeake Bay, which is known for their Chesapeake Bay blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) derives its name from "Chesepiook", a Susquehannock tribe word that means "Great Water". These Susquehannock natives led European settlers to some of the best places to catch crabs. Even early treaties between European settlers and Native Americans included provisions for the rights of "Hunting, Crabbing, Fowling, and Fishing." Since then, generations of watermen made their living harvesting Crabs and other resources along the Chesapeake Bay developing the most efficient method to catch crabs resulting in modern crab traps.

Since early European settlers in America, crabbing was an important food source to watermen of the Chesapeake and continues to be the source of income for many families. The Alaskan king crab fishing industry took off in the mid-1800s, and was one of the reasons Alaskans pushed so hard for statehood in 1959. Alaskans wanted to gain control of the area’s natural resources, such as King Crabs.

Benjamin F. Lewis invented the crab pot in the 1920s, patented it in 1928, and perfected it ten years later. The crab pot changed the way crabs are harvested on the Chesapeake Bay. The crab pot is the most common method used to catch and harvest crabs worldwide.

Commercial crabbing is a very tough and dangerous job, so it is very important that commercial crab traps catch as many crabs as possible to be able to turn a profit. Commercial crabbing is heavily regulated by local state laws to ensure that the crabs are not over fished and that they are given enough time to breed and repopulate.

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