There are two species of stone crab harvested in Florida, but they are analyzed as a single stock. Currently, landings are stable, but the number of traps has drastically increased since the 1990s (FWC-2011 Stock Assessment Summary). The stone crab fishery is not overfished, but overfishing is occurring, though stone crabs may be resilient due to the fact that a female may spawn multiple times in one season, meaning she has spawned several times before her claw reaches market size. Also, some crabs may survive declawing. There is additional concern due to the nature of the fishery and the higher value for large claws that there are not enough large males in the fishery (FWC-2011 Stock Assessment Summary).
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