1. Survey of New Jersey’s Recreational Blue Crab Fishery in Delaware BayBy
Brandon W. Muffley*
New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife
Marine Fisheries Administration
&
Lynette Lurig
New Jersey Division of Science,
Research and Technology

2. New Jersey’s Blue Crab Fisheries
Commercial Fishery (State Wide):
5.37 million pounds – 10 year average harvest (97-06)
2002 highest with 6.41 million pounds
2003 lowest with 4.1 million pounds
$ 5.7 million dockside economic value
Type of fishery:
Crab Pot and Dredge fisheries
Pot Fishery – 87%, Dredge Fishery 13%
1995 all crab fisheries became limited entry
Pot limits (DE Bay – 600; Coast – 400)
643 commercial crab licenses issued – 5 year average
* Licenses not necessarily indicative of participation
* Many (nearly half) of all licenses are not active

3. NJ’s Commercial Fishery in DE Bay
Total crab harvest (hard and peeler) has averaged 3.1 million pounds (10 year)
Crab Pot harvest has averaged 2.9 million lbs with no trend
Crab Dredge harvest has averaged 148,000 lbs and has increased
Overall, DE Bay accounts for approx. 58% of NJ’s total crab harvest
DE Bay accounts for 63% of the total Crab Pot harvest
DE Bay accounts for 21% of the Dredge harvest
Average ‘active’ licensees in DE Bay fishery pots, 44 dredge
Only 58% of the licenses are active

4. Recreational Fishery Background
Recreational crabbing occurs in all of NJ’s estuaries
(DE Bay, Coastal bays, Sandy Hook and Raritan Bay)
Recreational harvest is believed to equal or
exceed commercial harvest
Series of surveys conducted in the 1970’s concluded:
More effort expended in catching crabs than any other species
75% of the states residents took at least one crabbing trip
Average harvest was 6 – 12 crabs each
Information only on residents - non-residents make up a substantial
portion of the effort, particularly in summer months in coastal bays
Numerous recreational crabbing techniques: commercial style pots,
collapsible traps, baited/hand lines and dip nets and
more!!

5. Recreational Fishery Cont.
NJ’s Recreational Blue Crab Fishery Data Collection
(or lack there of):
* Recreational Crab Pot License:
- Initiated in 1985
- Allows one to set 2 commercial
style pots per license
- Various seasonal and area closures
- Often used without a license
– especially by summer visitors
- Possible measure of effort
* No licenses required for any other
gear type (some exceptions)
* No other data is collected or has been
collected since the surveys from the 1970’s

6. Why This Survey?
Developed a comprehensive state-wide blue crab monitoring/assessment program including commercial, recreational, fishery independent aspects (under unlimited resources – in terms of funding and staff) – What would give us the biggest bang:
Influencing Factors:
One year or short term funding
Evidence/perception of its importance and impact
No reliable or recent estimates – no data collected since 70’s!
Immediate application to DE Bay joint (DE/NJ) stock assessment
Have other blue crab data collected from region – trawl survey

7. Survey Goals/Objectives
Overall Goal: Initiate the first-ever statewide monitoring
program to sample NJ’s recreational blue crab fishery
Specific 2005 Survey Objectives:
1. Estimate the monthly fishing effort and harvest by gear
within NJ’s portion of DE Bay
2. Characterize the size and sex structure of the recreational
harvest
3. Use the 2005 results to improve/modify future sampling
program surveys
Accomplished through a randomized sampling methodology collected by
Telephone and Dockside Intercept Interviews focusing only on the recreational
blue crab fishery (similar to the MRFSS survey for finfish species)

8. Survey Design - Telephone
1. Target Area – Tri county area of Salem, Cumberland and Cape May
- considered residents for this survey (other NJ counties considered non-residents)
- most cost effective – more targeted calls
2. Fielding Period – June through November – asked about previous month of activity
Data Collected - # of Recreational Crabbers, # of Trips/Month, Harvest/Month,
Gear Type and Access location
Population Covered – Telephone households – crabbing and non-crabbing
Population Not Covered – Non-telephone households and non-resident crabbers
6. Stratification – County population and
Monthly
7. Assignments – Mix of day and evening,
Weekend and Weekday
Courtesy of ORC Macro

9. Telephone Survey continued
Data obtained from the Telephone portion of the survey is used to estimate
Total # of Recreational Crabbing Trips by Tri-County Residents
Completed Interview Target – 2,250 Interviews (allocated regionally and seasonally)
* 2,273 actual completed interviews
* Nearly 16,000 calls were attempted to reach the Target
* Of the completed calls – 103, 4.5%, were positive calls (i.e. crabber interviewed)
Collapsed Response Categories:
* Ideally would obtain effort by each gear type for each location, during each
month and for each county – but limited by sample size
* Collapsed Categories are the smallest sub-unit used to
classify crabbing activity
Gear Type – Crab Pot, Collapsible Trap, All Others
Mode – Land (Pier, Jetty, Bank, Beach etc.),
Boat (Private, Rental)
Season – Early (May-June), Peak (July-Aug),
Late (Sep-Oct)
County – Salem, Cumberland, Cape May
and Tri-County
Courtesy of ORC Macro
Have MRFSS numbers ready

10. Survey Design – Intercept
Courtesy of ORC Macro
Target Area – Tri county area of Salem, Cumberland
and Cape May
2. Fielding Period – May through October
Data Collected – # of Crabs caught/harvested,
Biological (count, size, sex), # of Trips,
Gear Type, Residency and Telephone Status
4. Population Covered – Recreational Crabbers visiting predetermined sites
5. Population Not Covered – Recreational Crabbers visiting sites not on list
Stratification – Expected Activity, Day Type (weekday/weekend), and Monthly
7. Assignments – Allocated to Weekdays and Weekends

14. Intercept Survey Cont.
Data obtained from the Intercept portion of the survey is used to estimate
Average Catch and Harvest Per Crabbing Trip
Crabber eligibility requirements:
* Must be a recreational crabber, or angler who incidentally caught crabs
* At least 1/3 done with their crabbing trip
* Five years of age or older
Completed Interview Target – 850 Intercepts (allocated seasonally & by
crabbing activity)
* Completed 831 interviews – little activity in May and early June
* 230 interviews of boaters, 601 interviews of land crabbing – bridge/bank
* Over 3,200 individual length and sex measurements recorded
Also collected information on crab consumption and eating preferences
Have MRFSS comparisons for NJ ready

15. Results – Participation
Residential Participation (Tri-County only):
9.4% of resident households, nearly 11,000, participated in crabbing in 2005
* Cape May county residents participated most, with 10.7% of households
* 90% of households crabbed together, ave. of 2.3 crabbers per household
* Average monthly participation, 3.5% - peak in August, 8.7%, followed by
September
Overall Participation, Residents and Non:
Tri-county residents accounted for 38.9% of all crabbing activity
* Residential participation peaked in Sept-Oct, 46.9% of all participants
* Non-resident participation also peaked in August, followed by July
New Jersey residents accounted for nearly 82% of all crabbers interviewed
* PA accounted for 16% - crabbers from as
far away as CO, FL, GA, MN and NC
were also interviewed
Ave. # of crabbers each month, resident and non,
– 24,000 individuals!!

16. Results - Effort Residential, Tri-County, Effort:
Residents took an estimated 65,000 crabbing trips during season
Cumberland County residents accounted for 55% of all trips
Residents accounted for 44% of the effort (higher than participation)
2/3 of activity occurred in July & August (approx. 44,000 trips)
No significant differences among gear types used
56% of trips were shore mode (i.e. bank, pier, overpass etc.), 44% boat mode
Overall Effort, Residents and Non:
202,000 total recreational crabbing trips
Peak effort occurred in July & August – 69% of all trips
Boat mode trips accounted for 64% of all trips
Non-residents accounted for the majority of boat mode trips – 78%
Shore mode trips equal between resident and non

17. Results – Catch and Harvest
Recreational Catch Estimates:
4.17 million crabs caught !! – 66% of catch occurred in July and August
Approx. CPUE was 19 crabs per trip
54% of catch thrown back, 46% of catch was harvested
Boat mode more productive than shore – average catch 23 vs. 17, respectively
Residents accounted for 30% of catch
Catch by gear types: 40% by collapsible traps, 8% pots, all other 52%
Recreational Harvest Estimates:
1.92 million crabs harvested!!
Equivalent to approx. 21% of the commercial harvest during same time
Average harvest per trip was about 9 crabs per individual
Boat mode accounted for 74% of harvest (high non-resident component)
Residents accounted for 30% of harvest as well

18. Results - Biological Harvest By Sex: Harvest By Size:
Nearly 75% of the harvest was comprised of males
Harvest sex ratio of 2.93 : 1 males to females
Commercial harvest (statewide) has approx. the same sex ratio
79% of the female harvest was mature
Harvest By Size:
Average size of females harvest – 139mm (5.5 inches)
Mature female size – 142mm (5.6 inches)
Immature female size – 128mm (5.0 inches)
Average size of males harvested – 135mm (5.3 inches)
These sizes are very consistent with the average size of
harvestable sized crabs in NJ DE Bay trawl survey

19. Implications/Application
DE Bay Blue Crab Stock Assessment
* Currently no estimate for NJ
* Assumed equivalent to DE estimates, approx. 1.5% of commercial pot harvest
* With these results, stock size estimates are likely to increase (i.e. past
assessments under-estimating stock size)
* Effects on exploitation or fishing mortality of DE Bay stock ?
Fishery-Dependent Size and Sex Data
* Only data NJ has from the fishery on the size/sex/maturity composition of the
harvest
* Comparison/relationships between commercial and recreational fisheries
Baseline for Future Studies in DE Bay
* Starting point or reference for future work in DE Bay
* Potential need to begin more monitoring/surveying the recreational fishery
Pilot/Test Survey for Future Refinement
* Learning from the results (or our mistakes)
* Ex. – reallocation of sampling (interviews, survey area, biological) for 2006
survey

20. Future Research & Plans
Southern Atlantic Coastal Bays Survey – 2006 season
* Sampling Area – Cape May Pt. (Jarvis Sound) through Great Bay
* All data collection complete, analysis underway
* Based on 2005 survey in DE Bay – re-allocated target telephone and
intercept interviews  more emphasis on telephone calls
Northern Atlantic Coastal Bays Survey – 2007 season?
* Sampling Area – Little Egg Harbor through Sandy Hook
* Specifics (interview targets, intercept locations, etc) of survey not
developed yet
* Funding source not secure
Volunteer Recreational Crab Pot Report
* Started for the 2005 recreational crabbing season
* Provided to everyone who obtains a non-commercial crab pot license
* Information collected:
> Fishing location
> # of crabs caught and kept
> Soak Time and # of pots fished
> Any misc. info or comments – sex ratios, presence of sponge crabs etc.

21. Acknowledgements Funding through ORC Macro
Heather Driscoll
Nicole Comanducci
Randy ZuWallack
NJ Marine Fisheries Administration
Tom McCloy
Paul Scarlett
Linda Barry
Jeff Brust
NJ Marine Law Enforcement
Lt. Carl Yunghans
C.O. Craig James
C.O. Jeremy Trembley
National Marine Fisheries Service
Rob Andrews
Funding through