By Kent Priestley
- Introduction
- Peelers Few & Far Between
- Caught in the Act
- The Rising Demand for Soft Crabs
- Download the article
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In Manns Harbor, it’s easy to see what pays the bills these days. Along the canals, wire crab pots, stacked five or six high, form long rows, each one fitted with a plastic float branded with the owner’s name.
At Benny’s Seafood, a sagging seafood house set just back from the Manns Harbor sound front, Benny “Rip” Rippons Jr. culls a day’s catch of blue crabs, sorting bushel baskets full of the clattering crustaceans by size and plumpness.
Minutes before, Rip was nosing the “Tasha,” a workboat named for his sister, to the dock after a day spent pulling his crab pots. Now, he thrusts a gloved hand into a basket, lifting crabs out one by one and examining them for marketability. Small crabs are returned to the water; regulation crabs are sorted according to size.
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