If you mean set out in open water you must purchase a rec crab license which allows for 5 pots max. Mark them with R and the last 4 digits of your SSN.

Here is a link:

http://www.mrc.state.va.us/regulations/recfish&crabrules.shtm

Hope this helps...Pat

 

You can also mark the buoy with R plus the last 4 digits of your driver's license.

If you buy a recreational crabbing license, you can have 5 pots.

 

So you cant have pots in open water unless you have the rec license??

EXEMPTIONS - The following activities are exempt from the licensing requirements:

1. Taking by dip net, hand line, or two crab pots (or two collapsible crab traps), as much as one bushel of hard crabs and two dozen peeler crabs in any one day for personal use aboard any vessel. If crabbing occurs from shore (crabs are not possessed on a vessel) the possession limit is one bushel and two dozen peeler crabs per person per day.



Dosent this say I can have 2 without a license?

 

Well then...the way that reads you can use two...but will it be worth your while? I guess you don't need to mark them as well.

Best of Luck!

Pat

 

You can have two without a license. That's all I have and I've been able to catch enough for my wife and I to eat. If I had a boat, I would probably get the license so I could have more gear out.

Here's the rule for marking the gear;

Buoys of any crab pot, eel pot, gill net or ordinary crab trotline, and an offshore stake of any crab trap, used for recreational purposes, shall be marked legibly with the licensee's last 4 numbers of his/her social security number or driver's license number, preceded with the letter "R"; these figures must be at least 1 inch in height. [4 VAC 20-670-40].

You are also supposed to report your catch annually to VMRC.

Any person catching finfish or shellfish using a recreational gillnet, cast net, dip net, crab pot, crab trap, crab trotline, eel pot, or any other recreational license established by Regulation 4-VAC-20-670 must report annually on forms provided by the Commission: the weight and species harvested, location of harvest, days fished and amount of gear used.

Here's the link to the form;http://mrc.state.va.us/forms/recform.doc. I do this although I doubt they'd come after me if I didn't.

 

So for some more mud in the water. . . The two pot exemption is a per person deal. Thus if you, your wife and two kids (any age) are on the boat you can set out 8 pots. There is a 1 Bu and 24 peeler crab limit per vessel.

The marking pots law is tricky. The law specifically says of the licensee . . . when it refers to the individual. The two pot deal is an exemption from having a license thus that law does not apply. If you get a 5 pot license you do have to mark your bouys.

Two more kinks in the laws.

If you have a 5 pot license you can not work your pots on Sunday. However, you, your wife and two kids can work 8 pots on Sunday.

Also there are two sancturaries.

1. The mid bay sancturary which is basically water deeper than 30 feet in the middle of the bay north and west of a line from Thimble Shoals light and Cape Charles (the cape not the town). In this area it is illegal to set pots recreationally or commercially. and

2. The lower bay sancturary which covers waters south and east of the above line and goes along the shoreline from Harrison's pier to Cape Henery. In this area one CAN NOT commercially crab. HOWEVER, one CAN RECREATIONALLY crab using pots or a string and bait.

The following link shows the two sancturaries combined.

http://www.mrc.state.va.us/regulations/crab_sanctuary.pdf

Oh and the reporting of catch only applies to folks who have a 5 pot license, trot line license, etc. not to folks using the 2 pot exemption.

Tom

 

And from what I read, colapsible traps and commercial sized pots count the same, so you can only use 2 colapsible traps per person....?


Good thing our Virginia beach house is 1/2 mile from the Md line then huh...

 

Yep that is right they are the same. T