date:Dec 25, 2012
unable to determine what is causing a reduced catch, but many suspect it is a combination of a booming octopus population, cooler weather, rough seas and a lingering red tide, which is killing the crab's food.
Every trap you pull up there's an octopus in there, Becker said.
When stone crabs get stuck in a fisherman's trap they become sitting ducks for octopus, said Ryan Gandy, a research scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. They'll eat the stone crabs in the tr