To BRD or Not to BRD? A Test of Bycatch Reduction Devices for the Blue Crab Fishery

We compared two models of Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs), designed to maintain the catch of commercially harvestable Blue Crabs Callinectes sapidus while excluding Diamondback Terrapins Malaclemys terrapin. The “Virginia BRD” model was a thick plastic, 5.1 × 15.3 cm rectangular red frame. The “South Carolina BRD” model was a thin plastic, 6.4 × 7.3 cm rectangular red frame. Baited crab traps were fished in groups of three (No BRD, VA BRD, SC BRD) in tidal creeks in Virginia and South Carolina. In Virginia, legal-sized crabs from traps with BRDs were 2 mm smaller than from traps without BRDs. In South Carolina, significantly fewer and smaller crabs were captured in traps with SC BRDs relative to traps without BRDs or VA BRDs. Shorter soak times in South Carolina may have reduced traffic flow of crabs into traps fitted with BRDs, an effect that was overcome by longer soak times in Virginia. Twenty-three of 29 diamondback terrapins in the Virginia study were captured in traps without BRDs, with thr...