Oct 15, 2009 5:30 pm US/Eastern
Stone Crab Season Gets Underway
MARATHON (CBS4) ―
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Stone crab season opens on Thursday, October 15th
CBS4 News
It might not feel like the middle of October, but we know it is because every year on this date Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach opens for business.
Maitre D' Ed Witte will soon be calling off customers names by the hundreds Thursday night at Joe's at 11 Washington Ave. -- now celebrating its 97th season.
"Between 5 and 7 is the best time to come," Witte said. "From 7 p.m. to 9, you have to wait probably an hour."
Bones – who is a captain – has been working at the landmark restaurant for 39 years.
"It's a great place to work and earn a living and I like to work here," he said. "It's like a family. You got to work hard and you got to be on time."
On its busiest night ever – Joe's served some 2,069 dinners.
Late this afternoon, both in the kitchen and back in takeaway – its final fixings to the food and then it was time to get cracking on those crabs.
Food aficionados have been looking forward to this day all year long. On Thursday the season begins for harvesting one of South Florida's most delicious renewable resources – stone crabs.
This year, commercial fishermen are expressing optimism about better demand for the seafood delicacy.
Last season, low demand caused by the recession had many commercial fishermen in the Florida Keys keeping their traps out of the water, according to Gary Graves, vice president of Keys Fisheries, one of largest processors of claws in the state. The Keys accounts for the largest stone crab claw harvest compared to other areas in the state.
"Last year we went through the first part of the recession and a lot of restaurants weren't buying stone crabs and other seafood," Graves said. "This year we believe all the fishermen have put their traps in the water and there's more optimism about selling the crabs."
The Keys is the top region in the state for the harvest of the claws.
Graves projects that crab claws will cost about the same price they commanded at the end of last season.
"Retail prices of stone crab claws, per pound, should start at $10 for medium, $15 for large and $20 to $22 for jumbos," Graves said.
Stone crabs are the state's only renewable seafood resource, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Legal-size claws are harvested; the body is returned to the water to generate new claws.
This year's season ends May 15.
CBS4's Lisa Petrillo contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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