October 15, 2014 — After two years of meager harvests, the forecast for this year's stone crab catch is cautiously upbeat, though prices likely will remain high.
Crabbers won't know until they start hauling up traps on Wednesday, the official start to the season, but Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association, pointed to the absence of crabs' two biggest nemeses: a blood disease in the crabs called hematodinium parasite triggered by red tides in the Gulf of Mexico, and tropical storm interference during the harvesting period.
"If we don't have any storms, we are fairly upbeat that it will be a productive season," he said, noting that concerns about the blood disease have abated but still exist in the Panhandle (where he also said "there is a lingering question about whether there's any correlation in northern gulf (crab numbers) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill").
"Here in the Keys we have not had some of the algae blooms and red tides that you've seen elsewhere, so that's a very positive sign. And we're getting to the end of storm season and that bodes well for the industry."
The Keys are an important area to watch for crab enthusiasts, since more than 60 percent of crabs harvested come from Southwest Florida. Two years ago the state's total catch was a disappointing 2.6 million pounds of claws (a historic average year is around 3) and last year was hardly better at 2.7 million pounds.
Read the full story from the Tampa Bay Times