Some new good eats - besides lobsters

[Mr.X]

Seems like the West Coast Dungeness crab is showing up in Cape Ann. If they show up in any number I am certainly going to go crab fishing. These guys are tasty.

West Coast crab shows up off Cape Ann - GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA

The downside - what are they doing here in the NE?


X

 

[trappist]

I guess we can take them as there is probably not a single restriction, although it states (if my memory is right) in the marine fisheries that all crabs are not to be harvested
I have friends in Brittany (France) who are filling their plates with these (but they can't have lobsters...)
If we can eat these, I will take them, only if I can for sure identify them...

 

[pdive]

I am pretty sure all crabs are game so long as you have a lobster permit.
There is a catch limit though and blue crabs have a size limit as well. Also restrictions on eggers but there isn't any notching of females as with bugs.

 

[Mr.X]

Identifying these crabs is pretty easy - they have a lot of brown fur on the underside of the shell, are a light tan on the top, a fair amount of white on the legs + the eyes (when alive) are beady-looking. They can also put up a good fight, but not against thick gloves. A good shell size for commercial fisheries is about 6 + inches across the top of the shell. As they are invasive species - WHO CARES! how many you take...however, finding them won't prove easy yet. IMO they are also the best tasting crabs on the planet next to the Alaskan King Crab (not a true crab - anomuran).

Dungeness crab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harvesting them on scuba is pretty easy. They tend to concentrate near areas where they can semi-bury themselves in the sand. When I did some research in Oregon I would set down tuna heads and some cat food and just wait on scuba. Pretty soon I saw these guys poke their heads out of the sand/mud substrate and go for it. They can't swim away which is good. I used to eat my fill every night. It didn't get better than this + and the meat is easy to access vs. something like a tiny Blue Crab.

My favorite dish was roasting them with some garlic, butter and some stuffing. They are so rich I almost got a nose bleed from just eating too many of em'.

X

 

[trappist]

Regulations are not clear... Should I understand we can get crabs ? And it even looks like no permit is required if not getting them from pots, but this also triggers the question whether this is permitted during a dive...

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries - Recreational Fishing - Regulations

 

[Mr.X]

I think the Dungies are no issue since they are rather rare. Also, you're from Europe ; the authorities should give you a break and give you all the crab and lobsters you want.

x

 

[trappist]

I think the Dungies are no issue since they are rather rare. Also, you're from Europe ; the authorities should give you a break and give you all the crab and lobsters you want.

x

Agree ! They should give me all the lobsters I want Bu they won't...
Now typically, when it is rare, it gets protected so you would not be able to get them !
But since this is invasive species, this is to be looked at very carefully to avoid them to actually take over from the native species, so depending how good and fast they would grow, we might be "obliged" to get them out...