In the shallow waters around Smith Island, a waterman harvests crabs by dragging a special dredge called a crab scrape behind his boat. He will rake up peeler crabs hiding on the bottom. The boats have a low draft that allow them to navigate in the shallow water where blue crabs hide in eelgrass while shedding their shells. The low sides of the boat make it easier to pull the crab scrape up over the side. “Crab Scraping in Tangier Sound” by Lenny Burton.
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