transporting crab?

[swamp donkey]

hey everyone! heading out to bamfield for a week in july and hope to do some crabbing. the wife was wanting to know if we could bring any back for her this time. we are from kamloops so it is a full day home. with the regs stating you must leave the entire shell on how can i safely bring them home. boil them whole then freeze them? freeze them uncooked? any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Charlie415]

If you are really worried about it I would clean the crab and save the cleaned shell just in case. Not totally legal but some common sense is needed. The legal way would be to keep them alive in a cooler and water for the trip home.

 

[Striper Sniper]

Hey Swamp Donkey, Spring Fever taught me a neat trick recently coming back from Winter Harbour. He pulls the traps on the last day and keeps the crab alive by putting them in the fish boxes with some sea water. We brought back our possession limit of 36 between the three of us and all were lively when we got home............ I don't know how long you can keep them this way but I wish I had thought of it for earlier trips. Maybe someone can chime in...........

SS

 

[Fish Assassin]

Crabs and lobsters are packed in totes for live travel all the time. Use a tote of cooler with wet towels on the bottom and top(Use Sea Water). Keep the tote in a cool dark area. You should be ok for up to 48 hours. Cool,Dark and damp is the key. Crabs can die if transported in water if there is no circulation for a long period of time or the water warms up to much which may be a problem for you having to drive to Kamloops.

Good Luck,

 

[Fish Assassin]

A: Crabs can live for several days out of water as long as they are healthy and are kept cool, moist, and stress-free. The optimal temperature is about 50° F., anything colder will ultimately kill them.

Transporting - A cooler filled with a layer of ice (or several gel packs) on the bottom is probably the best method to transport live crabs. If using ice, be sure to fasten a shelf to keep the crabs out of the melted ice water. If the crabs get into this water they'll quickly deplete the water's oxygen and will suffocate (for this same reason, never keep live crabs in a bucket of standing water.)

Alternatively, you can transport the crabs in a wooden bushel basket, covered with a damp burlap sack, and out of direct sunlight. While not optimal, this method is more practical for commercial watermen who utilize bushel baskets during the short period of time between catching and delivering their crabs to market.

 

[vetteman]

There's no legal way around transporting crab whole. Both the RCMP and the DFO had told me that when I've been stopped by them this year while carrying crab in the boat. Keeping the shell with the meat does not allow enforcement to know how many crabs that you actually have. Guaranteed way way to get a ticket according to both groups.
I'm usually on the west coast for 8 to 12 days at a time and keeping my crab is a problem. What I usually do is keep the uncooked crab on ice for a couple of days and then I cook them whole. It's a bit messy but if you're careful about the water boiling over it's not too bad. I let them cool and then put them back into the ice. We crack then when we get back home. I've done it this way for years and it works for me. You've got to kill them and cook them sometime so why not on the beach where it won't stink the house out.
As FA pointed out, you can keep them in water but unless it's circulated they use up the oxygen in it and can suffocate. I've had this happen to me in the past. If you must transport them live then his wet towel/cool, dark, damp routine works.
Transporting crab is a pain but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
Dave

 

[sammyslabber]

To add once they're cooked (if you like em whole) you can turn them upside down to hold the juice in...I like mine cleaned 1st then served cold...what ever way you choose they're tasty critters...but in the end best to get on them while they're still alive & fresh... like f.a says you can slow down their iminent departure by icing them down...If you end up to hit a hot spot like dave & gang once you arrive @ home vac. pack some of the fresh cleaned/cooked crab meat...store them in the freezer for future dishes ie: stuffed mushroom caps/seafood cannelloni/crab cakes...sammy

 

[Fish-Hunter]

for future dishes ie: stuffed mushroom caps/seafood cannelloni/crab cakes...sammy

Now seriously, do you really have to talk like that? I am starting to salivate over here, I really have to find some crabs here soon (the shellfish variety), all we have been getting this year is small ones and sun stars

 

[swamp donkey]

thanks guys! lots of options and great ideas! now i hope i didnt jinx myself by preparing what to do with them! i have to catch some first! hey how long should i boil a whole crab for to ensure its cooked?

 

[spring time]

15 minutes once pot comes back to a boil

 

[QB fisher]

I have no trbl keeping them alive and well for 10 hrs in the hot summer day , keep them in a live trap till the day you will be going home , then put them in a cooler , and put ice on top of them , leave the drain open , after 10 hrs they don't move much but the are alive and well, if you let them warm up a bit they will start moving around ,done it this way for years.

 

[vetteman]

I have no trbl keeping them alive and well for 10 hrs in the hot summer day , keep them in a live trap till the day you will be going home , then put them in a cooler , and put ice on top of them , leave the drain open , after 10 hrs they don't move much but the are alive and well, if you let them warm up a bit they will start moving around ,done it this way for years.

Be careful about keeping more than one days limit in a live trap. DFO officers have been known to consider keeping crabs in a live trap as fishing( anytime a trap is in the water you're fishing) and if you've got more than one days limit in there....................................
Dave

 

[Fish-Hunter]

Be careful about keeping more than one days limit in a live trap. DFO officers have been known to consider keeping crabs in a live trap as fishing( anytime a trap is in the water you're fishing) and if you've got more than one days limit in there....................................
Dave

I was thinking the same thing, however,,, I wonder how they would look at it if you were keeping them in a pen that had no openings (except for opening lid of course) and as long as you did not have more than your 2 day possesion limit and could prove that you were fishing for more than one day to capture your catch. In this case you may only be able to have one additional active trap working, as they may consider it to be one of your two trap limit per angler. Interesting,,, it would be good to talk to a fisheries officer to see what DFO thinks of this idea.

 

[xavier]

I wonder how they would look at it if you were keeping them in a pen that had no openings (except for opening lid of course) and as long as you did not have more than your 2 day possesion limit and could prove that you were fishing for more than one day to capture your catch.

Interesting, as I am sure the intent of the live trap issue is to discourage the storage of large amounts in milk crates under docks etc.. The law usually comes down to intent, and you would have a tough time convincing a judge that a cooler is a trap. However, it is DFO we have to worry about initially... a bit of a crap shoot in this case.

 

[spring time]

just get one of the cheap blue traps and use that rot cord on all the tunnels and lid to close it it should be legal as it has the rot cords, the rule say it has to have the rot cords but it doesn't have to fish

 

[Fish-Hunter]

just get one of the cheap blue traps and use that rot cord on all the tunnels and lid to close it it should be legal as it has the rot cords, the rule say it has to have the rot cords but it doesn't have to fish

Good point! But as vetteman says how sticky would they be on the fact that you may in fact have more than one days possession limit in the containment pen/trap?? This is a good idea for keeping them fresh until you are ready to go home, kind of like using a fish creel for trout fishing, but what would DFO say? The last thing you want is a fine for the sake of some crab (as good as they are). Will have to do some digging on this one, unless anyone knows for sure.

 

[Bassblaster]

The way I'm reading this you should just be able to zap strap the doors of a trap shut and stick it in the water.
It can't fish, and it has the rot cord in case it decides to take a walk. If you don't have your limit, just cut a strap, through the extra crabs in and strap it shut again. Unless DFO is raising Hurculean Crabs that can snap a Zap strap, I don't think they could argue that the trap is fishable.

 

[Fish Assassin]

15 minutes once pot comes back to a boil

In the past I have cooked thousands of crabs. You are cooking them to long. We always used the 15 mins from the time puting them in on small amounts of crab. Or 10mins from the second boil which is better when cooking large amounts of crab. I also use only a few inches of water and steam them. You will find it boils up and covers all the crab in the pot. Steaming them keeps the pot from boiling over in most cases.

The thing that interests me is that years ago when we all cooked them them with their lids on these were the same amounts of time used. If you remove the lid and clean them should they not cook even quicker?

 

[spring time]

thats what an old commercial guy told me and it 8 minutes when cleaned

 

[Jahfreddy]

Maybe not pertinent to this thread, but a good tip Ironoggin gave once in regard to freezing crab was to put crab into boiling water until the shell just turns pink (probably a minute or less), drag it out and put it into an ice bath (lots of ice in cold water) to stop the cooking immediately, then freeze in a ziploc with heavily salted water.

When you are ready to cook them the second time, simply finish cooking as you normally would. I must say, it worked like a charm, and the crab tasted very fresh. When I did it, I left them in halves which is decent for a side dish for one person (to kill them, I have a big old butcher knife, and I flip them on their back and cut them in half in one fell swoop).

The quick "flash" boil frees up the meat from the shell so it doesn't stick on the second go around, and like FM said, I like to kill and clean the crab first, then I just steam them for about 10 minutes or so. I find that when you boil them whole, the meat inside the shell gets boiled with the guts and has a greenish tinge to it that I don't care for. Also, especially if you are doing them up on a boat or beach, it takes just a few minutes to get an inch of water boiling versus a whole pot. I use one of those steamer inserts that just sort of butterflies open, and it works in small or large pots.


Man, do I love fresh Dungies!!!!