[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 50, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 50CFR654.21]

[Page 454]
 
                    TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES
 
                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
 
PART 654--STONE CRAB FISHERY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO--Table of Contents
 
                     Subpart B--Management Measures
 
Sec. 654.21  Harvest limitations.

    (a) Claw size. No person may remove from a stone crab in or from the 
management area, or possess in the management area, a claw with a 
propodus measuring less than 2.75 inches (7.0 cm), measured in a 
straight line from the elbow to the tip of the lower immovable finger. 
The propodus is the largest section of the claw assembly that has both a 
movable and immovable finger and is located farthest from the body when 
the entire appendage is extended. (See Appendix A, Figure 1, of this 
part.)
    (b) Egg-bearing stone crabs. An egg-bearing stone crab in or from 
the management area must be returned immediately to the water unharmed--
without removal of a claw. An egg-bearing stone crab may not be stripped 
of its eggs or otherwise molested.
    (c) Holding stone crabs. A live stone crab in or from the management 
area may be held aboard a vessel until such time as a legal-sized claw 
is removed, provided it is held in a container that is shaded from 
direct sunlight and it is wet with sea water as necessary to keep it in 
a damp condition. Containers holding stone crabs must be stacked in a 
manner that does not compress the crabs. A stone crab body from which a 
legal-sized claw has been removed must be returned to the sea before the 
vessel reaches shore or a port or dock.