I too am not a crab biologist but something that WSU said jumped out to me. In an earlier post he said "...easy to catch dozens of giant keepers …". 3 to 5 years ago I was consistently hearing about the great crab in MA 13 with exceptional size male crabs; makes you wonder that with lower exploitation rates on the red rock crabs whether we just have not seen the effected of lower recruitment.

Larry - your comments on the crabbing in MA 8-2 (my home waters as well) is concerning. In my search for water quality information I ran across some limited information that included the deep water of MA 8-2 with that of south Sound and South Hood Canal with low ph (7.5 or below) from a couple years ago. Have to stress that it is limited information but my concern levels are rising.

Wonder if any at WDFW has access to better water quality monitoring?

Curt