Tagged blue crabs
 

Hello-

I am a researcher with Nicholls State University. We are conducting a research project to better understand blue crab movements throughout coastal Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. As part of this project, we are tagging mature female blue crabs throughout the Gulf. I am attaching a picture of a tagged crab. We are reaching out to the commercial and recreational fishing community to ask for your help. If you catch a tagged crab, please call us and report it. We are offering a reward for each tagged crab reported, and are asking for the following information:
-Tag number
-Date caught
-Location caught (GPS if possible, if not a descriptive location is fine)
-Was the crab carrying an egg mass/sponge? If so, what color was the egg mass (orange, brown, or black)?

Tagged crabs can be reported at 1-800-624-2857 or www.crabtags.org.

We are not trying to close the fishery or impose any additional regulations. We are simply trying to learn more about this valuable species.

If you have any questions about the project, please do not hesitate to ask. We are also setting up a website with information about the project: http://www.nicholls.edu/bluecrabs.

http://www.nicholls.edu/blue-crabs/f...-1-540x368.jpg

There's a pretty big crabbers group on Facebook. I'll post this there for you guys.

What happens when the crab sheds? You'll lose your tag and won't be with the crab anymore? Just wondering?

Probably already had their final molt, so gonna breed and go die

You guys may find this interesting:
http://www.nola.com/outdoors/index.s...b_facts.html#8

I'm sure they are only tagging females that have already molted (Females only molt once). Pretty cool. I will let my commercial friends know about this.

Fact #7 - Gulf Coast blue crab males & females are 16 & 20 pct. heavier on avg. than Atlantic blue crabs. Is that also a reflection of the human population?

Thanks for all the comments. We are only tagging mature female blue crabs. After reaching maturity, females do not molt again, so we are not worried about losing tags.

Also, thank you for the suggestions for reaching a broader audience. I will post on 2coolfishing.com later today.

Thank you!

Thank you. We appreciate the help.

Lol I caught that one; no it's not a reflection of our population it's from all the heavy metals being absorbed.

Heavy metals? Doesn't sound good for us...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Nothing is good for us.

Tasty, tasty delicious heavy metals

and I was always told ALL crabs will molt and change shell about every 3 weeks as long as it is still growing.

always glad to learn something new

gotta admit thou, I wouldn't tag and release a big female, they taste too good.

but I love the idea of helping with the research, just wish this could be done for small crabs, I release hundreds of those each year.

Small crabs would be tough because of the molting. There are ways of tagging them that will last through the molt, but they are a bit more difficult.

Also, if you catch one with a tag- we aren't asking you to release it. We just need you to call us with the tag info (or report it online). After that, you can pull the tag off and do whatever you want with the crab.

but how could you tag it so it wouldn't prevent the crab from escaping the discarded shell? I would think anything that stays connected to the inner crab would keep them connected to the old shell wouldn't it?

and of course if I ever caught anything tagged I would absolutely turn it in along with whatever info I could give about it.

I was speaking that if I caught one to put a tag on it and release it, in terms of my own greed and love for crabs, its hard to throw one back even though that's being greedy

when releasing crabs after tagging, is it best to spread them around or put them back right where they are caught?

I ask because, if caught in relatively confined areas, I wouldn't think they would go anywhere other then that area.

also, to be honest, how far do crabs go in general? aren't they pretty much sedentary creatures?

This thread is making me hungry!

If i catch any, I'll take a picture and release to further your research.

Bruh, just throw it in the cooler or place it back where you caught it They are tracking movements. If you place it somewhere else after you catch it, that isn't natural

There are several types of tags that are inserted into the muscle, through one of the joints where the old shell splits. They look a bit like plastic spaghetti printed with small text. They have a t-shaped barb on one end that hold them in the muscle, so when the crab molts the old shell splits around it, and the crab is able to escape, while keeping the tag. These types of tags aren't as visible, though, and are not as fast to attach to the crab.

We are trying to release the crabs close to where they were caught, at least within a quarter mile or so. We're trying not to move them artificially, so to just drop them back where they came from.

Females can actually migrate over 2 miles a day when they are on their way offshore to spawn, so when they want to move they can go a long way. This is part of what we're trying to look at with this study- how far do they move, when do they move, and where are they going?

Thanks, saltysully. If you could release it where you caught it, that would be best for our research. We appreciate the help, and hopefully you'll catch one soon. We've only tagged a couple hundred so far, but will be tagging over 10,000 within the next couple years in Louisiana, and about 30,000 across the Gulf.

it just seams they have no chance to get away since you could almost literally walk across the water on the crab trap floats they have so many out there. where I crab there are no less then 100 traps all around me and I have to watch so I don't run over floats as I try to crab, and that's in a 40 ft wide canal only about 2 miles long.

im as anti regulation as they come but it seams the crab traps outnumber the crabs in most areas and I believe there needs to be "some" reduction in the numbers of traps allowed for commercials per license. I think the large reductions of numbers of crabs caught in the last 15 years are a direct result from commercial overfishing to the point commercials need to run hundreds more traps then they did before to catch the same numbers and recreationals have trouble going catch crabs with the family in areas where that never happened.

I think if you want to see a damaged crabbing fishery that needs urgent monitoring, you should put a lot of resources into looking at the lake ponchartrain crab fishery.

where can we go to get more info and maybe join up to be part of the tagging?

You may be right- that's part of what we're trying to determine.


We're working on a website for the project at http://www.nicholls.edu/blue-crabs/. We're still adding information, so should have more content soon. We are also working on a map for the website that will show locations where crabs were initially tagged and where they were recaptured (for tagged crabs that have been caught), but this is taking a bit longer than expected- we've been focusing on getting crabs tagged so have slowed down the work on the website.

If you're interested in helping with the tagging, there's an email address to contact us on the website. Right now, we are mostly working with commercial crabbers to tag the crabs, but we are always looking for additional people to help out, especially in areas where we aren't currently tagging.

I bet there are a few that would mount it! LOL

Great work Nicholls!

great, I think it would be even more important or at least very important, to get the word out first before too much tagging is done so tags are not wasted and the public gets the word about this and what to do if they find one.

it would be ashamed for tags to be discarded simply from people not knowing what to do or what it means since I am presuming most tagging efforts get a small percentage of reported catches anyway.

I know this is all new and your just getting started but a top priority I think should be to contact paul masson and other outdoors reporters to get articles published informing the public?

The entire point of this post is to inform the public

We thinks alike

well duh.......

but whats wrong with suggesting other ways to get the word out?

I care about this issue and haven't seen any articles about it in the paper, any magazines, or other websites.

this site is great but it isn't like all sportsmen see what is posted on here but if paul masson did an article on it, then it would

Who is Paul Masson...

Saw it on LAS already. But there is a giant red tag on the crab with a contact number and a $5 reward. Don't think they need to rent billboards up and down i10 brotato chip

I meant Todd Masson, got the name messed up :redface:

that only covers the reporting side of it after catch, it does not cover getting the word out to get volunteers to tag crabs

I think the easiest way to get the word out would be to post some signs at boat launches and have bait docks/crab factories where crabbers buy their bait post signs. Most crabbers aren't reading recreational articles on the internet.

Thank you all for the advice regarding how best to get the word out.

We are not necessarily looking for more volunteers to help tag crabs, although if anyone is interested we may be able to use the help (depending on the location and specific circumstances), so let us know.

Instead, we are primarily interested in encouraging people to report the tagged once they are caught. As Duck Butter said, the tags are brightly colored and fairly visible, and contain all the necessary information to report the tags. We are trying to get the word out about the project, though. We've talked to the Crab Task Force and are posting flyers at crab docks, boat ramps, and bait shops.

But, we would appreciate any ideas for how best to increase awareness of the project. I will contact Todd Masson on Monday. If anyone has any suggestions for websites to contact or post on, we'd appreciate that information as well.

I would recommend going to the launches or slips closest to the areas you release and personally introduce yourself to the local crabbed and tell them about your program. If you have some T-Shirts give them one, if you have a cold beer offer them one, you really need them onboard for this program to flourish.

These crabbers may be running traps spread over 10+ miles; the ideal situation is they record the closest landmark, call you with info and release the crab. (GPS location is unlikely)
The rest of the possible scenarios will depend upon their willingness to participate in the program.
If you have some female colleagues I would recommend bringing them to the launches/landings when you talk to crabbers.

Your project is very interesting, and I wish you the best of luck.