By Kent Priestley
- Introduction
- Peelers Few & Far Between
- Caught in the Act
- The Rising Demand for Soft Crabs
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Caught in the act
During mating, called “doubling,” a jimmy crab will cradle a soft female for a love act that can take as long as 12 hours to complete. Fooled into Rip’s pots, though, the poor ladies never reach their man. Instead, they’re caught, brought to shore, and placed in shallow tanks called shedders. Peelers are in-spected regularly over a period of days, and ones that have shed are chilled and packed for sale. Tending crabs starts before sunrise, and continues until well after dark.
Prior to the 1960s, crab shedding was typically done in dockside canals, creeks or other calm waters. Mesh-bottomed trays, tethered to pilings, were filled with rank peelers. Those old-school shedders rose and fell with the tides, keeping crabs cool as they molted. Benny remembers poling a tiny skiff around his grandfather’s floating shedders, helping the old man tend his peelers.
Since then, dock shedders, typically fashioned from wood, plastic, or fiberglass, have replaced floating shedders. Set on stands for ease of access, dock shedders rely on electric pumps to cover the crabs with a constant stream of cool, oxygen-rich water. A new Tideland EMC electrical substation at Manns Harbor, completed in January 2003, ensures that Rippons’ peelers are kept alive by some of the steadiest power around.
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