If both sides are allowed 50% of the harvestable crab and the tribe takes their's first, I think there is a good chance the rec side could not ever get their fair share, even if they are there. Being smart, the tribal guys know where the large numbers of harvestable crabs are. They blanket it with pots and take a very high percentage. That leaves us with our 2 pots per person to try to find the rest. There is a reason they may be left. Likely they are really spread out or in deeper or harder areas to fish. They are probably less hungry because there are fewer.

Even if the recs do get their 50%, there are other factors that come into play against them. I think that what also happens is that people who are out every day or live on the water leave their pots out longer and are able to squeeze out a higher percentage, taking one or two every few days, while the rest of the fleet can not afford to make that type of effort. My participation would be a lot different if I could row out, drop a pot and come back a few days later and pull it up, as compared to dropping a pot and pulling it back up empty later that day, paying a launch fee, travel time, etc. Or, if we went first and the crabs were concentrated, we could drop in our pots and possibly get a limit. Sure the season may be short, but the number of successful people may go up real fast. I think the State likes to hide behind the season rather than the results. It benefits those who are most adamant about the sport, those who live on the water or are out every day. Those of us who may go out for one or two days a year give up, but are not invested enough to complain hard.