Chinacat, interesting question and here comes another one of my long winded answers. George, if I'm hijacking your thread please feel free to delete my post or move it. Normally, back in the day, I never would have brought up crab dredging on a recreational site. I know this could be a sore subject to some. At 72, commercial crab dredging is in my rearview mirror and my boat has been sold. The entire operation from getting my custom built boat in Maine to designing and welding up my dredge in my garage was exciting. I know some on this site might not agree with my opinions and I'm open for discussion. I respect questions like yours and I understand your concerns. Crab dredging in the GSB was just another chapter in the history of commercial fishing on the Bay. To answer your question: Is there an impact on the bottom? Yes, there is a dredge being pulled across the bottom. There has to be an impact. One side of the bell curve, some could argue it destroys the bottom and everything living on that bottom. Or, the other side of the curve, some could argue it's like a farmer tilling a field for new growth. I worried with the level I was going to take crab dredging on the GSB. I invested over one hundred thousand dollars to catch winter blueclaw crabs. It was a boat with a purpose. I was worried, was the NYS DEC going to shut me down. The boat was sailed down from Machias, Maine. The dredge was built, attached to a winch cable and it's operation was tested at my dock. Everything worked perfect and the next day we were off for our first trip. I deployed the dredge for the first time in West Channel and towed it about 500'. When it was raised, we were shocked at the sight of all these beautiful bluecrabs in the basket of the dredge. Everything worked perfectly. At the end of the day, we had twenty-four bushels of crabs. Over the next few weeks, I perfected the deployment and recovery of the dredge and the rinsing out of the dredge basket of dead grass and mud. The challenge from the other crab dredgers was intense. Getting flamed on here is nothing compared to clams smashing off the boat and shotgun blasts across my bow. My equipment had to be checked in the morning before we left after we found the main bolt attaching the dredge to the cable loosened to a single thread. You guys have no idea what it's like dealing with another commercial boats on the water in "their area". Someone was going to get hurt but I had to stand my ground and change my tactics. I switched to crabbing at night which was allowed. When my competition found out, they reported me to the DEC and said I was illegaly catching clams and sneaking them back under the cover of darkness. While out one night in West Channel, I saw a bright light from a helicopter over Ocean Beach and it was heading west. It was turned off and I didn't give it anymore thought. Ten minutes later, it swooped in and parked itself 50' off the stern of my boat and turned on the light. It was like the sun. I was hailed and ordered to go to the Bayshore dock and told not to throw anything overboard. The whole way in, the helicopter remained above us to monitor what we were doing. As I pulled into Bayshore there were Conservation Officers to meet me and the helicopter landed in the parking lot. Lt. Huss, from the DEC got out of the helicopter and boarded the boat. During the ensuing search, they found a couple of clams. Lt. Huss told me it was against the law to harvest clams with a dredge in the GSB and definitely not allowed at night. As we talked, I said to Lt. Huss, that the four clams he found would have been returned to the water had he not ordered us not to throw anything overboard. I asked him if he really felt I would chance catching and keeping the less than a bushel of clams we would bycatch over the thousand dollars worth of crabs. I think he was embarassed he called out the calvary to catch us doing what he thought we were doing. The conversation got civil and we discussed why I was crabbing at night. I knew who turned me in and so did he. The funny part, I was turned in by the biggest poacher on the Bay. Lt. Huss looked my equipment over and the amount of crabs on the deck and in bushel baskets. He was impressed and bid me good luck and farewell. Over the years, we became friendly and I always found him to be fair but firm. If you broke the law and he caught you, you were busted. He never had any reason to bust me, I was always legit. So, Chinacat, if you are still with me after all the wind, I will give you my side of your question as to whether a dredge damages the bottom. After a few years of crab dredging, the DEC still had a cocked eye to my operation. Between my boat and Herb Slavin from Slavin and Son in the Fulton Fish Market, we controlled the market in NYC when it came to winter bluecrabs. After many DEC boardings, the DEC became concerned and Phil Briggs from Finfish and Crustacens wrote a new proposed law for crab dredging in the GSB and it was going to put me out of business. As I said in a previous post, that law was shelved when Pataki ordered the DEC to prove what I was doing harmed the bay bottom as they thought. After spending a day with me and seeing all my logs, Mr. Briggs felt the dredge did not do any overt harm to the environment. FYI, we don't pull the dredge over live grass bottoms like a scallop dredge. Winter crabs do not occupy those areas. For the most part they live out the final few months of their life out in the channels and depressions around the bay. Most thought they buried up in mud and died there. I did not find that to be the case after decades of dredging in the GSB and New York Harbor. So, what about the damage to the channels and depressions? Year after year, I found the channels and depressions held more crab. The bottoms that were covered with rotting seaweed smelling like rotten eggs was tilled like a farmer would do to his fields. The rotting grass was lifted and went out with the tide. There wasn't anythng alive in the dredge and after running the dredge over the bottom numerous times, I would leave the area. So why was I there, if there wasn't anything on the bottom? As I said earlier, everyone thought the winter crabs buried in the mud and would die there over the winter. I found, that was not true. Crabs moved all winter. The areas I "tilled" now held crabs. They continued to migrate to different areas throughout the winter. Without clearing that bottom, they never would be able to live there. I discussed this with Phil Briggs and he asked if he could come out with me again. He said there was no threat to my operation. He wanted to learn more about winter crabs and winter flounders. If a law was pasted, I would be grandfathered in. He had the power to stop dredging and decided not to use that power. So, how can we judge the damage to the bottom? Or, how can we judge the benefits of dredging the bottom. Your guess is as good as mine. I'm retired from winter crab dreding and sold my boat. The experience was incredible. I learned a lot about the Great South Bay over the twenty plus years of crab dredging and so did the NYS DEC who allowed it.
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