CRAB INDUSTRY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 15 
In Virginia the hard-crab season extends throughout the entire 
year, with the exception of a closed season during July and August 
on sponge-bearing crabs. The weather is of sufficient mildness to 
admit of trot-line catching being engaged in from about the first of 
April until the middle or last of November. In 1916 there were no 
crabs of any consequence taken by the trot-line at Hampton after 
December 1. The temperature of the water at that time was about 
48° F. Catching by this method had ceased two or three weeks 
earlier farther up the bay. No crabbers were found using the trot- 
line in Mob Jack Bay after November 10 during the year under 
discussion. Catching with the trot-line began during the first week 
in April in 1917. During the remaining months of the year hard 
crabs are taken by the use of the dredge. The dredging season is 
limited by law to the period between November 1 and May 1 of the 
succeeding year. As the dredging season opens legally on November 
1 and extends to May 1, there is some rivalry between the crabbers 
using this method and those working with the trot-line during the 
months of November and April. The trot-line men, operating at 
less expense than the dredge-boat owners, can sell their catch more 
cheaply. For that reason, and also because the crabs have not 
moved in sufficient numbers to deep water, dredging does not begin 
in earnest until nearly December. 
LEGAL REGULATIONS. 
MARYLAND. 
Nonresidents are not permitted to take crabs in the waters of the 
State. Residents are required to pay a license fee of $1 for the 
privilege of taking crabs by any of the various methods used. Any 
person or firm desiring to pick, can, or ship cooked hard or soft 
crabs or crab meat must pay a license fee of $10. <A fee of $5 is 
necessary for selling or marketing living hard or soft crabs. 
It is unlawful to take or have in possession any hard crab, other 
than one in the peeler state, measuring less than 5 inches across the 
shell from tip to tip of spike, or a hard crab with eggs visible upon 
the apron; that is, a sponge crab. It is also unlawful to take or 
have in possession a soft crab measuring less than 3 inches from tip 
to tip of spike, or a peeler measuring less than 3 inches. No crabs 
of any sort may be taken between November 1 of any year and May 
1 of the succeeding year. 
For the enforcement of these regulations the State has provided 
as follows: 
Licenses are obtained from the clerk of the court of the county 
in which the crabber resides and are good for the year of issuance 
and only in the county in which issued. Residents in Baltimore 
City obtain licenses from the clerk of the court of common pleas and 
may crab in Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties. 
t the opening of each crabbing season the State Conservation 
Commission appoints, at its discretion, a certain number of inspec- 
tors for each county in which crabbing is engaged in. These are 
stationed by the commission in the respective counties at the 
points where their presence is required. They report to the commis- 
sioners and are also under the direction of the deputy commanders 
of the State fishery force. 
