Crabbers and stone crab claw lovers alike hope slow harvest picks up

Stone crab claws, one of the ocean’s most delicious harvests, is in short supply this season on the Cortez fishing docks and virtually everywhere else in Florida.

“They are really not anywhere,” said Karen Bell, president of A.P. Bell Fish Company. “Maybe Hurricane Irma moved them offshore and they haven’t decided to come back.”

Irma hit Florida one month before the stone crab season opened, crossing the Keys, where about 60 percent of the state’s stone crabs are caught, and making a second landfall on Marco Island in Collier County, the state’s second-biggest supplier responsible for about 20 percent of the catch, the Miami Herald reported.

Stone crab season opened Oct. 15 and runs through May 15. It’s the time of the year when crabbers are allowed to take claws that are at least 2 3/4 inches long.

“The very first week, the crabbing was best off Homosassa, but even that has dropped off,” Bell said.

An estimated 10 boats are taking part full-time in the stone crab harvest from Cortez, and another 10 are harvesting part-time, she said.

“With the gear, the bait, the fuel and the boats, it’s a costly fishery to participate in,” Bell said.

Medium claws that sold for about $19 a pound last year are now going for $26.99 around much of the state, the Miami Herald reported.

Star Fish Company, 12306 46th Ave. W., Cortez, has kept the price about the same as last year – $16.95 for mediums – when they were more bountiful, Bell said.

“I don’t like gouging,” Bell said.

Joe Rogers, general manager of Star Fish Company, says the good news is that he has been able to keep stone crab claws in his store lately.

“It’s been more consistent. I have been in the business for a long time. It’s usually in the first three or four weeks of the season where people really want them. Next week, people will have guests in town and they will be splurging,” Rogers said.

Nick Giles was working the seafood counter at Star Fish Company on Wednesday.

“People love stone crab claws. It’s been a tough season the last couple of weeks,” Giles said.

While grouper and red snapper have been plentiful, another area staple, the harvest of mullet, has gotten off to a slow start.

Even so, Bell remains optimistic.

“I think it’s going to get better because I am around fishermen who say it’s going to get better,” she said.

“It depends on the weather. The stone crabs like cool, murky water to make them crawl. Nobody went out (Tuesday) because it was too windy.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Crabbers and stone crab claw lovers alike hope slow harvest picks up."