Crabdog Woes

Ignorance isn't always bliss. Especially when it comes to laws and regulations.There have been a few times in my life i can think of that I wish I had read the regulations ahead of time. Instead I assumed, or listened to others, and shouldn't have.

This came home to me last week again when I was going crabbing at the beach. Others had told me what the daily limit was, and the size they were to be. So I headed out over the sandbars in search of the elusive crabs. I thought to myself as I walked,"Boy, I don't think I have seen so many crabs, but they are all undersize." I had picked up 10 or 15, checked the sex, and size and most were thrown back -- too small. Don't reach the 165 mm. (6.49 in.) minimum required size. Eventually I reached my daily limit of 4, and later that day we had a wonderful feast of crab.

Having obtained a copy of the regulations when I got my crab license, I thought, "I should check these out as far as crabs go." And here's what I discovered: First, there are two kinds of crabs that can be harvested, The Dungeness, and the Red Rock crab. I wasn't making a distinction in the type. I was assuming a crab was a crab. Next, in the bay where I was crabbing the daily limit for EACH type is 4, not 4 total. Finally, the Dungeness crabs must be 165 mm, whereas the Red Rock crabs only need to be 115 mm. (4.5 in.). In the two days I had been crabbing, I probably threw back at least 10 Red Rock crabs that were of legal size. I could have harvested many more had I known the regulations.

Although the crabbing instance is minor, it could have been more significant if I had erred on the wrong side of the law. I can immediately think of several other instances where I didn't know the laws or regulations, and one that could easily have resulted in a more serious accident and my death.

So my point here is simple: I need to make the effort know and to keep up on the laws and regulations that pertain to the spheres of life I interact with: Traffic laws, hunting and fishing regulations, and tax-laws to name few. Where these are too complicated such as some tax law, I should spend a little to pay for good advice. The dividends in long run will likely pay off.