SEA 



SCIENCE 



Beyond Blue: 

 Crabbing in Color 



R« 



ed, black, green, blue, orange, 

 yellow, even lime — almost every coloryou can 

 imagine. Crab pots come in lots of "designer" 

 colors these days, and Mary Helen Cox makes 

 them all. 



Traditional crab pots were large square 

 traps constructed out of galvanized chicken 

 wire. Today, the colored pots are still square, 

 but made of colored PVC-coated wire. 



'Twenty-five years ago, we only had green 

 and black. Then, people started trying new 

 things. Different colors became popular, like 



By Erin Seiling 



red and orange. Now we have multicolored 

 pots and even lime green pots," says Cox of 

 Cox's Crab pots in Fairfield. 



Most crabbers prefer particular colors, 

 she adds. Some like the red pots, some like the 

 blue ones. Whatever their color of choice, they 

 find something that "works," and they keep 

 using that color again and again. 



There is a certain amount of mystery, 

 folklore and superstition associated with 

 colored pots. And plenty of debate. Almost 

 any crabber will tell you his or her opinion on 



what color to use and the "how," "when" and 

 "where" of using it. But there haven't been any 

 North Carolina studies examining whether 

 certain colors actually attract more crabs. 

 Until now. 



H.L Bond of Edenton is testing the 

 catching efficiency of various colored pots in 

 the Albemarle Sound through a grant from 

 the N.C. Blue Crab Research Program. The 

 program is funded by the North Carolina 

 General Assembly and administered through 

 North Carolina Sea Grant. Continued 



COASTWATCH 23 



