Stone Crab Season Wraps Up
KEY WEST (CBSMiami/AP) – Stone crab harvesting season has come to an end and it will be one for the books but not in a good way.
Commercial fishermen in the Florida Keys said they have a disastrous harvest this year.
Last year, they got around $18 a pound for jumbo claws, $12 a pound for large claws and $7 or $8 for medium claws.
Commercial fisherman George Niles said those prices went up as much as $6 a pound this year, but production was so poor that the season wasn't lucrative.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist says red tides and a fatal parasite plagued stone crabs this year.
This season's harvest may total about 2 million pounds. A good season should yield about 3 million pounds.
The next season begins October 15th.
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