Commercial Crabber Fined in Delaware Crab Pot Case
OutdoorHub 02.10.12
A commercial crabber pled guilty and was fined on Feb. 8 for failure to tend crab pots, following a lengthy investigation by Fish and Wildlife Enforcement agents.
After numerous continuances for trial had been granted, Warren A. Brady, age 57, of Middletown, entered a guilty plea in the New Castle County Court of Common Pleas for five counts of failing to tend crab pots.
Brady was fined $425 plus $600 in court costs, and was ordered to pay $3,512.10 in restitution associated with picking up more than 100 crab pots left unattended in the Delaware River. Staff members from the DNREC Divisions of Fish and Wildlife and Parks and Recreation collected the abandoned pots.
Delaware law requires that crab pots be checked regularly during crabbing season and removed from the water during the off season from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28 of each year. Crabbers also are required to remove their pots from the water when they are no longer in active use. Abandoned crab pots can pose serious navigational hazards to passing vessels, such as entanglement with engine props. Also, derelict pots can entrap marine life other than crabs, such as the diamondback terrapin, a native Delaware turtle.
