Government Briefs 06.21.18

New York State

Crab Data Sought

Crabbers on the East End could be in for a surprise. The State Department of Environmental Conservation is tagging full-grown female blue-claw crabs with yellow wire between the lateral tines of their carapaces to investigate their migration and habitat patterns. If crabbers land a crab with a tag, they have been asked to report the serial number on it on the department’s website. It will indicate where the crab was tagged and when, and even who else might have caught it earlier.

The D.E.C. has also asked recreational crabbers to help its biologists by keeping track of their catches. Questions listed in a voluntary online survey include the method used to catch the crabs, the location, and the number of male or female crabs encountered. Even trips in which not a single crab is found are important to the data-collection effort, the D.E.C. said. Details are at dec.ny.gov; the online crabbing survey is mobile-phone friendly. At selected points on Great South Bay, staff of the D.E.C. Division of Marine Resources will be asking crabbers in person if they would care to participate.

The D.E.C. has reminded crabbers that any egg-bearing females must be immediately returned to the waters from which they were taken.