Are Hoops the solution to Crab Thievery

Written by the Lost Anchovy 12.5.2022

Introduction

If you are reading this article there is a good chance your crabbing pots have been poached in the past. Poaching or stealing another mans catch is a pretty slimy thing to do, but it happens year after year. It’s illegal, it’s slimy and over all just a pretty terrible thing to do. 

Working backwards in the criminal mind of a poacher we can see their logic. If the thievery benefits me with a low probability of repercussions then the act is beneficial to me — and the key word here is ME.

Let’s be honest, the authorities are have not taken a hardline stance on crab thievery that would deter such behavior. Deterrence is non-existent. With limited resources the state can only enforce so many rules, regulation and laws on the books. This has led to an intractable problem that has plagued honest fisherman across this state. Those that follow the rules are getting screwed, and there has not been much justice for them. The poachers get the crabs followed by the uproar on social media and various fishing forums. Rinse, repeat and recycle every Dungeness crabs season opener. 

For thieving to be lucrative poachers need few things to go in their favor. They need  authorities to NOT care about enforce the laws, which is happening in my humble opinion. They also need fisherman to leave their pots unattended so they can strike quickly, and finally they need their actions to NOT have detrimental consequences to themselves or their lively hood — Check, Check and Check.

When do thieves strike? — Understanding criminal behavior

I have dealt with crab poachers for as long as I have kayak crabbed and that is a long time. Criminals (Poachers) will strike when there is least attention on their activity and there is greatest demand for the product, In this case crabs. They will poach unattended traps in the early morning or late evening and around the holiday time (Thanksgiving and Christmas). For years this method has worked well for them. Limits or sometimes over limits of crabs for their families and friends at the expense of honest fisherman; however the times and tides maybe changing against the poachers.

Let’s be honest, everyone would love to have a poacher publicly tarred and feathered on social media with clear evidence of the crime to send a clear message across the bow to their brethren, but I’m not holding my breathe. However, new regulations regarding equipment changes may just be the solution to this intractable long term problem. 

Hear me out. 

My initial hesitation to switch from traps to hoops

For many years I have be fish with traps and it’s all I have known — It was effective and got the job done. Once the crabs go in, they don’t go out, so when the proposed new regulations limiting the use of traps caused by the increase whale entanglement became law it caused a lot of angst. Naturally, I question the logic or motives behind the change.

From a sports angler’s prospective it meant investing in new equipment (Hoops), or having to pay a validation stamp to use equipment I have bought in the past. In essence, I would have to pay more to do the same thing that I have always done —It just rubbed the wrong way. The message was clear from the fish and game commission — they wanted anglers to move away from traps to hoops due to political pressures from environmental groups advocating for whale safety. 

As humans we favor known routines and procedures. We are biologically programmed to follow known paths and routines because it safe and known. Change is scary because it offers more uncertainty in an already uncertain world. In the animal kingdom sudden change can lead to death if the animal is unable to adapt quickly enough.  Bottom line…we have our routine and habits, and we like sticking to them.

However, as the famous saying goes. The definition of INSANITY is doing the exact same thing and expecting different results. 

In this case using traps equates to getting poached!

Forced change brings a solution to an intractable problem 

With the new changes to the crabbing regulations fisherman were left scrambling to acquire hoops. The demand and prices for hoops skyrocketed which was a boom for tackle shops and manufactures like Promar at the expense of anglers who had to retool their gear to be in compliance with the new regulations.

By law, hoops are required to be checked every two hours and must be taken home at the end of each fishing day. Hoops can not be left unattended as trap were in the past. A crab trap validation stamp is NOT required for hoops.

These policy changes brought about changes such as: Less whale entanglement from unattended traps, reduced lost traps floating and ensaring bio life, and reduce crab poaching. 

The new change regulations became an inconvenience to anglers like me who had to retool our equipment but it solved an intractable problem of crab poaching. By reducing the time anglers have to check their pots between soaks and forcing anglers to take home their traps at the end of the day this reduced the time that poachers have to steal. Suddenly poachers were unable to steal unattended traps in the early morning or late evening. If they wanted to poach crab they would have to do under the watchful eyes of Anglers. ( By law, anglers are required to pull pots every two hours). This solved multiple problem on multiple fronts regarding crab poaching. Let me be clear, the policy changes is NOT be a silver bullet to completely eliminate crab poaching but it did greatly reduced the conditions that made crab poaching lucrative. 

Conclusion

Personally, I have found that using hoops to be an effective way to catch crabs. I have done equally well using hoops as I did with traps as a kayak angler. Additionally, as an added bonus, the volcano traps can also be used for lobster hooping in Southern California. 

The policy changes has been good for the whales, the environment, and to an extent honest sport anglers. The intractable problem of poaching may finally have found a solution in an unlikely place. The biggest losers have been the poachers but maybe…just maybe they can just put in the hard work like the rest of us honest anglers …  and you know what…I’m OK with that. It taste like sweet justice to me. 

TLA