Wildlife officials and fishermen are preparing for the start of stone crab season.
Florida's recreational and commercial stone crab claw harvest season opens Wednesday in state and federal waters. The season closes May 16.
Harvest regulations and illustrations showing the proper way to remove the claws are posted on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's website. The regulations are the same in state and federal waters.
It's recommended that harvesters take only one claw from each crab even if both are of legal size, so that the crab can defend itself against predators and obtain more food. The crabs will regenerate the missing claw.
There is a recreational daily bag limit of 1 gallon of claws per person or 2 gallons per vessel, whichever is less.
