Alabama’s crabbing regulations start with a license and run through size limits, trap construction, gear markings, where you can set traps, and how you handle other people’s gear. Everyone crabbing in saltwater needs a saltwater fishing license. If you run more than five traps or crab commercially, you also need a crab catcher’s license. Blue crabs must measure at least five inches across, egg-bearing females can only be kept during a four-month window, and every trap and boat has to carry specific markings. Break any of it and you’re looking at a Class C misdemeanor.
Licenses You Need
A saltwater fishing license is the baseline. It covers anyone who fishes or possesses fish in Alabama’s saltwater areas, and that includes crabbing with a single trap or a hand line.1Outdoor Alabama. Saltwater Recreational Size and Creel Limits Recreational crabbers using five traps or fewer need nothing more.
Once you go past five traps, or if you’re selling what you catch, you need a crab catcher’s license from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 9-12-124 – Crab Catcher License for Use of More Than Five Crab Traps; Rules and Regulations The fee is $66 for residents and $132 for nonresidents.3Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 220-3-.84 – Fees The license runs through September 30 each year.4Outdoor Alabama. Commercial Blue Crab When you buy it, the Marine Resources Division issues an identification number that you’ll need to display on buoys, your vessel, and every container of crabs you sell or transport.5Legal Information Institute. Alabama Administrative Code r. 220-3-.31 – Crabs
Size Limit and Legal Catch
Every harvested blue crab must measure at least five inches across the shell, from the tip of one lateral spine to the tip of the opposite spine.6Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 220-3-.31 – Crabs Anything smaller goes back. This trips up more recreational crabbers than any other rule, because there’s a common assumption that no size limit applies.
Three narrow exceptions exist. Pre-molt crabs, identified by a pink or red line on the back paddle fin and caught for shedding, can be kept below the size minimum but must sit in a separate container labeled “peelers” or “busters.”6Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 220-3-.31 – Crabs Licensed live bait dealers selling crabs as bait aren’t held to the size minimum either. And commercial crabbers can keep undersized crabs in up to two open work boxes aboard the vessel for sorting; sealed or covered boxes don’t qualify.5Legal Information Institute. Alabama Administrative Code r. 220-3-.31 – Crabs
When You Can Keep Egg-Bearing Females
Egg-bearing female crabs, sometimes called gravid, berried, or sponge crabs, can only be possessed from January 15 through May 15.6Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 220-3-.31 – Crabs The rest of the year, they must go back in the water immediately, whether you’re catching recreationally or commercially.
Trap Construction Rules
No crab trap can exceed 27 cubic feet in volume. Every trap must have at least two unobstructed escape rings, one per chamber, each with a minimum inside diameter of 2-5/16 inches. Those rings let undersized crabs leave the trap on their own.
From April 1 through September 30, licensed commercial crabbers can apply to the Marine Resources Division for a permit to obstruct or remove the escape rings when catching pre-molt crabs.6Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 220-3-.31 – Crabs Outside that window, or without a permit, the rings stay open.
How Traps and Boats Must Be Marked
Marking rules split by whether you’re commercial or recreational.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 9-12-124 – Crab Catcher License for Use of More Than Five Crab Traps; Rules and Regulations
Commercial Gear
Each commercial trap needs at least one buoy no smaller than six inches in diameter, with at least half of it painted white. Your Marine Resources Division identification number goes on the buoy above the waterline. The buoy line must be weighted so it doesn’t float on the surface. Plastic bottles are not allowed as buoys.4Outdoor Alabama. Commercial Blue Crab
Your vessel must display your trap verification number on each side in block letters at least three inches tall, in a color that contrasts with the background. Every container you use to sell or transport crabs has to be tagged with your full name, your Marine Resources Division identification number, and the date of harvest. Dealers face the same tagging standard for containers in their possession.5Legal Information Institute. Alabama Administrative Code r. 220-3-.31 – Crabs
Recreational Gear
Recreational traps require an orange floating buoy at least six inches in diameter or width, with a permanently affixed letter “R” at least two inches high.6Alabama Administrative Code. Rule 220-3-.31 – Crabs The color and the “R” together mark the trap as recreational at a glance.
Where and When You Can Set Traps
Traps cannot be set within 300 feet of any public boat ramp or public pier. Several waterways are closed to crab traps entirely, including the access canals to Heron Bay, Heron Bay Cut-off, the mouth of West Fowl River, and Weeks Bay.4Outdoor Alabama. Commercial Blue Crab
In certain designated areas, a recreational trap has to be tied to a pier, dock, piling, bulkhead, boathouse, or other shoreline structure by a line no longer than 10 feet. No more than five traps are allowed per property.5Legal Information Institute. Alabama Administrative Code r. 220-3-.31 – Crabs
Commercial crabbers can’t pull traps or remove crabs from traps between sunset and one hour before sunrise the next day.4Outdoor Alabama. Commercial Blue Crab
Other People’s Traps and Derelict Gear
Taking crabs from a trap that isn’t yours requires written authorization from the owner. Verbal permission doesn’t cut it, and this is one of the more frequently cited violations. Intentionally damaging someone else’s traps, floats, or lines is also illegal.7Outdoor Alabama. Recreational Blue Crab Regulations
Traps that are no longer serviceable have to come out of the water. Anything found without proper identification is treated as a nuisance and confiscated by the Marine Resources Division. During the first two days of each calendar month, a licensed crab catcher can recover unidentified derelict traps, and must report the number recovered, the location, and any other required information by the close of the next business day.7Outdoor Alabama. Recreational Blue Crab Regulations
Penalties
Any violation of the crab catcher’s license statute is a Class C misdemeanor.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 9-12-124 – Crab Catcher License for Use of More Than Five Crab Traps; Rules and Regulations That covers fishing without a license, running more than five traps recreationally without a crab catcher’s license, failing to mark your gear, and pulling crabs from someone else’s traps without written permission.
A Class C misdemeanor carries up to a $500 fine and up to three months in jail.8Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 13A-5-12 – Fines for Misdemeanors and Violations9Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 13A-5-7 – Sentences of Imprisonment for Misdemeanors and Violations A court can also set the fine at up to double any financial gain you received or the loss caused by the violation, whichever is greater. Improperly marked traps are subject to immediate confiscation.
Federal Exposure Under the Lacey Act
Move illegally caught crabs across a state line and the Lacey Act attaches. Federal law makes it illegal to transport, sell, or acquire fish or wildlife taken in violation of any state rule.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 16 Section 3372 – Prohibited Acts A felony conviction can bring up to $20,000 in fines and five years in prison. Misdemeanor violations carry up to $10,000 and one year. Equipment used in the violation can also be forfeited. This mostly reaches commercial operations shipping out of state, but any crabber crossing a state line with illegal catch is exposed.