Getting Ready

Over the past two season we re-webbed all our traps. This process includes stripping off all the old webbing/mesh off the old trap, repairing the metal frame and replacing all the webbing, buckets and rope. Below shows a trap being welded. A metal bar was broken and is being reattached to one of the vertical bars. (The trap is currently on its side. The bottom would be on the right and the top on the left.)

Below is trap that is ready to be re-webbed. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the process. A finished trap can be seen behind the bare trap (metal only). Plastic buckets have been installed in the top. The buckets allow crab to fall down into the trap, but make it difficult for the crab to leave. Some traps have only one huge bucket, but all our traps have four smaller buckets.

After the trap has been webbed, and the buckets are installed, a rope is wound around all the metal bars. This is to protect the webbing from wearing off during use and repeated stacking. In the background stacks of over 6 traps can be seen. The rope takes all the weight and abuse of the stacking process.

The final step is to put two ropes across the top. The ropes meet in the middle of the trap and connect to the trap at the outer edges. Where they meet in the middle is where a rope is tied that goes to the ocean surface. These ropes are visible in the photos of the traps in action. You'll see this soon!

Next "Loading the Boat"