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.11 Season and Time for Catching Crabs
Chesapeake Bay seasons and times. Commercial trotlines: 1 hour before sunrise to 9 hours after (May–Sep). Commercial pots and other gear: 30 minutes before sunrise to 7.5 hours after. Holiday pre-dawn windows for Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4th, Labor Day and the day before each. Scrape season: April 15 – October 30. Recreational: no crabbing 5 PM to 30 min before sunrise (May–Sep) in the main bay. CLOSED December 16 – March 31 for everyone.
A. Commercial Crabbing — Trotlines. Operators may remove crabs between 1 hour before sunrise to 9 hours after sunrise from May through September, with extended hours in April, October, November, and December. Special holiday provisions apply to Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4th, Labor Day, and preceding days. B. Crab Scrapes. Similar timing to trotlines. A person may not catch crabs using a crab scrape from October 31 to April 14, inclusive. C. Other Gear. Crab pots, bank traps, channel pounds, collapsible traps, net rings, handlines, dip nets, and pound nets operate between 1/2 hour before sunrise to 7-1/2 hours after sunrise with extended pre-sunrise windows on designated holidays. D. Pot Setting. Crab pots may only be set during established removal periods or up to one hour after those windows end if already aboard vessels. E. Recreational Crabbing. Prohibited during May through September between 5 p.m. and 1/2 hour before sunrise in the main Chesapeake Bay, and during sunset to pre-dawn hours in tributaries. Crab pots, dip nets, and handlines may be used throughout the recreational season. F. Year-Round Closure. A person may not catch blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries from December 16 through March 31, inclusive.