Blue swimmers are currently running in Geographe Bay and if you are keen to get out there, remember you can only take five female crabs as part of the total bag limit of 10 crabs per fisher. The revised bag limits were introduced last December to restrict the number of females taken.
This will help protect blue swimmer crab breeding stock, safeguarding the species and your future catch. If you’re on a boat in Geographe Bay, you are allowed to possess 20 crabs per boat when there are two or more people on board, including a maximum of 10 female crabs.
As a quick guide, male blue swimmer crabs are bigger and more colourful than the females, with a dark blue body, legs and claws and a pale belly. Females are mottled brown, so its pretty easy to tell the difference. For more information on the new rules for blue swimmer crab fishing in Perth and the South West, visit our website http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/Species/Blue-Swimmer-Crabs/Pages/default.aspx