Finally got back to the beach and crabbed Saturday. Not too much competition and after soaking four pots for five hours we came up with two keepers and maybe a dozen throwbacks of which most were females. This was in the southern part of MA 8-2; way too early for such poor crabbing.

So, what is the real story? Was the agreed upon total allowable harvest far too high (and based upon inaccurate stock assessments)? Maybe the fact that one or more tribes with U&A there extended their season because their crabbers hadn't caught their 50% (or the anticipated poundage within the original days of crabbing)? If so, that the first to the table weren't fairing well should have been a tipoff.

Bottom line, the P.S. endorsement generates somewhere around $1MM to $1.5MM per year and that should be enough to fund good annual assessments prior to negotiations with the tribes.

Or just let us start crabbing when the first tribal pot hits the water....... at least in MA 4 through 9 where more than sufficient poundage has remained out of the State's share after the summer rec season to allow for significant NT commercial harvest (since implementation of the new crab policy).