THE FLORIDA BLUE-CRAB FISHERY - HISTORY, STATUS, AND MANAGEMENT

The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun (Portunidae), supports larg e commercial and recreational fisheries along Florida's coasts. Docume ntation of the development and magnitude of the commercial fishery exi sts, but little is known about the recreational fishery. Blue crabs ar e harvested in both the hard- and soft-shell states in Florida. Variou s types of gear have been employed to capture blue crabs, but in recen t years the buoyed, wire-mesh trap has superseded all other gear types . This gear type is used to capture both hard- and soft-shell blue cra bs. By far the largest component of the commercial fishery is the hard -shell fishery. The annual commercial harvest of hard-shell blue crabs consistently ranks among the top ten of the fisheries in the state in both quantity and ex-vessel value. The blue crab fishery in Florida b egan in the late 1800s and has continually expanded. The quantity of b lue crabs harvested has historically varied among coastal counties of Florida. In recent years, various peninsular Florida counties on the G ulf of Mexico have contributed the majority of annual landings of hard -shell blue crabs. Most of these crabs are harvested during the warmer months of the year. Management of the blue crab fishery in Florida ha s historically focused on protecting ovigerous females and minimizing inadvertent mortality of unharvested blue crabs, particularly juvenile s. Regulations focus principally on gear type, gear configuration, and restricting harvests made with gear other than wire-mesh traps. In re cent years, hard-shell blue crab landings in Florida have stabilized o r decreased slightly, but the number of fishers in the industry has in creased. As a result, standardized harvest (pounds per fishing trip) h as decreased; this trend is more pronounced in Atlantic coastal counti es than in gulf coastal counties. The processing, marketing, and retai ling components of the seafood industry in Florida are well developed and could absorb additional production of blue crab products in the st ate. However, competition with other crab and imitation-crab products, degradation of coastal habitats important in the blue crab life cycle , increases in fishing effort and efficiency, fluctuations in blue cra b population sizes, and other concerns limit the potential for further expansion of the Florida blue crab fishery.