World Trade Center in New York 

 City, customers will salivate over the 

 soft, sauteed crustaceans to the tune 

 of $50 to $75 a plate. 



As April, May and June warm 

 the waters north of here and more 

 soft crabs are available, prices will 

 drop. Still, an estimated 800 soft crab 

 shedders will haul in $6 million or 

 more this year in a burgeoning North 

 Carolina industry. 



Tar Heel fishermen have joined 

 Chesapeake Bay crabbers as top 

 contenders in the soft crab business. 

 Dare County leads the state, with 

 more than 1 million pounds landed in 

 1991. 



In the restaurant atop 

 the World Trade Center 



in I\ew York City, 

 customers will salivate 

 over the soft, sauteed 

 crustaceans to the tune 

 of $50 to $73 a plate. 



Sea Grant estimates the value of 

 North Carolina's soft crab industry 

 — including income from selling 

 and shedding peelers, sales of gear 

 and crab pots, labor and shipping and 

 packing expenses — at $12 million 

 annually. 



While many other fisheries are 

 on the decline, blue crabs are 

 booming. But the demand for soft 

 crabs is still growing faster than 

 North Carolina fishermen can pull in 

 their peeler pots. 



Wolff plucks a soft crab from a 

 tank and invites a reluctant visitor to 

 handle it. Newly shed of its armor, 

 the usually aggressive animal sits as 

 harmless as a Gummy Bear in the 

 guest's outstretched palm. 



A few hours earlier this crab 

 struggled with every ounce of energy 

 in its 3-inch body to escape its old 

 shell. Crabs molt to grow, and will 

 shed some 20 to 30 times in then- 

 two- to three-year lifespan. 



"There'll never be a time when it 

 doesn't amaze me," says Wolff of 

 the shedding ritual. "Especially when 

 you have a tank of 50 or 60, and 

 they're all coming out." 



For seven years, Wolff collected 

 peelers to sell to other Carteret 



County crab shedders. But three Mark Hooper and Mr. B en route to 



years ago, he decided to go for the pull pQts [n mddem Creek 

 glory and shed them himself. 



Thanks to the miracle of closed, 



Carla B. Burgess 



recirculating systems that draw water 

 from a reservoir, Wolff can shed 

 crabs in his backyard, despite the 

 lack of waterfront property. (See 

 Marine Advice, page 20.) 



He darts from tray to tray, 

 plucking out stills, crabs that did not 

 survive the trauma of shedding their 

 tough outer shells. His wife, Dawn, 

 shows him the new sorting order for 

 the crabs in their various states of 

 undress. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 7 



