We don’t agree with the new regulations but we’re resilient, and we have no choice but to adapt.” © Carline Jean / South Florida/Sun Sentinel “We begged to end the season after Mother’s Day, which really marks the end of the tourist season. “I’ll be out of product by Saturday,” Kirk says. Kirk’s seven crabbers pulled traps on Wednesday. Kelly Kirk, co-founder of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association and owner of the Kirk Fish Company on Marco Island, says ending the stone-crab season two weeks early is “unfortunate.” Her seasonal market, which counts on stone crabs for 80 percent of its sales, will also shut down two weeks early without fresh claws. “Everything will be gone by this Sunday, not next Sunday.”
“What we get tomorrow will be our last delivery of the season, and fresh claws won’t last that long,” says Hepner, whose market won’t sell frozen crabs. The restaurant plans to flash-freeze some of its fresh-caught stone crabs this weekend to have enough supply for Mother's Day. Jason Zipoli, wholesale manager for Billy's Stone Crabs in Hollywood, holds a bag of fresh stone crabs. © Carline Jean / South Florida/Sun Sentinel Medium-size claws that began the season at $18.99 per pound, for example, now cost $30 per pound. He says fresh jumbo and colossal claws have been harder to find this season, and prices, which held steady all season, are now above-average. “A lot of people this year will be eating frozen for Mother’s Day,” says fishmonger and chef Dylan Hepner of Sea Salt Fish Market in Fort Lauderdale. 15.ĭespite these rules, fish markets and fisheries say stone-crab catches have remained strong, although the $30 million industry’s abbreviated season is driving up prices as restaurants stockpile crabs for Mother’s Day and beyond.
The 2020 stone crab season kicked off Oct. Mother’s Day wasn’t a concern for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which last summer created four new permanent rules aimed at protecting the state’s stone crab population after years of declining harvests. Of course, people can tell the difference between fresh and frozen, but what am I going to do? People want stone crabs.” It makes a difference to freeze them when they’re very fresh. “We always have fresh claws for Mother’s Day, and now we don’t. “It’s the first time I’ve ever tried this,” Culbreth says. © Carline Jean / South Florida/Sun SentinelĬracked stone crabs at Billy's Stone Crabs in Hollywood on Thursday April 29, 2021. For Mother’s Day weekend he plans to thaw them over 48 hours so the claw meat retains its sweetness and moisture on Sunday, May 9. Owner Dewey Culbreth, mulling creative ways to stretch the shelf life of his claws, decided to stick his stockpile in the freezer.
© Carline Jean / South Florida/Sun SentinelĬustomer Genevieve Gasse enjoys a stone crab lunch at Billy's Stone Crabs in Hollywood on Thursday, April 29, 2021.Ĭrabbers at Catfish Dewey’s fishery on the Gulf Coast pulled their final traps on Thursday. Namely: For the first time in the restaurant’s 37-year history, there will be no fresh-caught claws for the holiday. That timing – a week before Mother’s Day – presents an inconvenient problem for seafood eateries like Catfish Dewey’s in Oakland Park. The end of the stone crab season will be May 1.Īfter surprisingly strong sales and heavy demand for Florida stone crabs, the season ends two weeks earlier than ever - on May 1 - and traps must be removed from the water by May 2. © Carline Jean / South Florida/Sun Sentinelĭianna Jane bites into stone crab meat Billy's Stone Crab in Hollywood.
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