APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
over the bait chamber. Crab pots of a similar size and 
shape but with smaller mesh and different bait are used to 
catch peeler crabs for the soft-shell market. In the 
Pacific, fishermen use crab pots to catch king, tanner, and 
dungeness crabs. 
b. Hand-dip trotline--A baited, hookless line anchored 
on the bottom in moderate to deep water. Each end of the 
line is attached to a buoy and an anchor line. In harvesting 
the catch the line is run over a spool attached to the boat 
which brings the baited line to the surface; the crabs 
clinging to the bait are then quickly scooped with a dip net. 
c. Crab dredge--A heavy dredge consisting of a 
rectangular iron frame, bearing a 6-foot toothed drag bar 
on its lower edge and trailing a mesh bag made up of rings 
and cotton twine. 
d. Scrape--A rectangular metal frame fitted with a 
bag made of cotton and iron rings, particularly effective 
for taking soft crabs. The scraping bar does not have teeth. 
e. Crab pound net--An enclosure constructed of stakes 
and wire netting. The crabs enter the pound net on the flood 
tide. 
f. Seine--An encircling type of net made of webbing. 
The top or float line has floats attached to keep the net at 
the surface while the bottom or foot line is weighted with 
lead to keep the net vertical in the water. 
g. Dip net--A simple piece of gear made of cloth mesh 
or wire which is suspended from a metal oval hoop and fitted 
with a handle. 
Gulf fishermen use bush lines and shedding cars for 
catching soft shell crabs. Crabs about to molt are attracted 
to, and later picked from the bushes. The fishermen use crab 
shedding cars or recirculating tanks to keep the crabs alive 
while they complete the molting process. 
In 1972, 9,562 vessels and boats; 298,395 crab pots; 
8,242 trotlines; and 318 crab dredges were used to land blue 
Crabs an the Atilantic States. In the Gull Sitatess iam 19727 
IPols boats; 60) 782 scrab pores, o724. ELOtlmiune’s - andes4 27 10) 
bush lines were used to land blue crabs. 
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