SECTION .0200 – crab

15A NCAC 03L .0201      CRAB HARVEST RESTRICTIONS

(a)  It shall be unlawful to possess blue crabs taken from Crab Harvest Management Areas designated in 15A NCAC 03R .0118(1) from January 1 through January 31, except dealers shall have seven days after the beginning of the closure to sell, offer for sale, or transport blue crabs that were taken from this area prior to the closure.

(b)  It shall be unlawful to possess blue crabs taken from Crab Harvest Management Areas designated in 15A NCAC 03R .0118(2) from March 1 through March 15, except dealers shall have seven days after the beginning of the closure to sell, offer for sale, or transport blue crabs that were taken from this area prior to the closure.

(c)  It shall be unlawful to possess more than five percent by number of the following hard blue crabs in any combination in any container:

(1)           male hard blue crabs less than five inches from tip of spike to tip of spike;

(2)           immature female hard blue crabs;

(3)           mature female hard blue crabs less than five inches from tip of spike to tip of spike; and

(4)           mature female hard blue crabs with a dark (brown or black) sponge from April 1 through April 30 statewide. For the purpose of this Rule, a "mature female hard blue crab with a dark sponge" shall mean a mature female hard crab that has extruded her eggs on the abdomen or abdominal flap and the eggs have developed a coloration ranging from any shade of brown through black.

(d)  It shall be unlawful to possess blue crabs described in Subparagraphs (c)(1) through (c)(3) of this Rule unless individual crabs are sorted and placed into separate containers for each of the following categories:

(1)           soft crabs;

(2)           pink and red-line peeler crabs;

(3)           white line peeler crabs; and

(4)           from March 1 through October 31, male crabs to be used as peeler crab bait.

All blue crabs not sorted into containers as specified shall be deemed hard blue crabs for the purpose of establishing the five percent tolerance described in Paragraph (c) of this Rule.

(e)  It shall be unlawful to possess more than five percent by number of white-line peeler crabs in a container of pink and red-line peeler crabs.

(f)  It shall be unlawful to:

(1)           sell white-line peeler crabs;

(2)           possess white-line peeler crabs unless they are to be used in the harvester's permitted blue crab shedding operation; or

(3)           possess male white-line peeler crabs from June 1 through September 1.

(g)  It shall be unlawful to possess more than 50 blue crabs per person per day, not to exceed 100 blue crabs per vessel per day for recreational purposes.

(h)  In order to comply with management measures adopted in the N.C. Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan, the Fisheries Director may, by proclamation, close the harvest of blue crabs and may further restrict commercial and recreational blue crab harvest by imposing any of the following requirements on the taking of blue crabs:

(1)           specify areas;

(2)           specify seasons;

(3)           specify time periods;

(4)           specify means and methods;

(5)           specify culling tolerance; and

(6)           specify limits on harvest based on size, quantity, sex, reproductive stage, or peeler stage.

(i)  It shall be unlawful to fail to immediately return hard blue crabs not meeting the requirements of this Rule to the waters from which they were taken.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 113-134; 113-182; 113-182.1; 113-221.1; 143B-289.52;

Eff. January 1, 1991;

Amended Eff. April 1, 1997; July 1, 1993;

Temporary Amendment Eff. July 1, 1999;

Amended Eff. April 1, 2014; September 1, 2005; August 1, 2000;

Readopted Eff. March 15, 2023.