Delaware Crabbing License: Fees, Gear Rules, and Limits

A Delaware crabbing license, in the sense most people mean it, is just a Delaware fishing license. The state does not issue a separate recreational crabbing permit: your standard fishing license covers crabbing and clamming in all state waters, and residents aged 65 and older are exempt from buying one.¹ Commercial crabbing is a different track with its own license types, tiered fees, and an apprentice-based entry system.

Who Needs a License

If you’re crabbing for personal use, a valid Delaware fishing license is all you need. That single license lets you fish, crab, and clam in both fresh and tidal waters statewide.² Delaware residents 65 and older don’t have to purchase one.¹

Selling anything you catch recreationally is illegal. If you plan to sell crabs, you need a commercial license, and you can only hold one gear type per year: a commercial crab pot license or a trotline license, not both.³

Buying a Recreational License

DNREC replaced its old eGov portal with the Digital DNREC ePermitting system.⁴ You can buy a fishing license online at epermitting.dnrec.delaware.gov or in person at an authorized retail agent. Current fees are posted on DNREC’s license fees page, and a small convenience fee may apply through a third-party retailer.

The Commercial Path

Commercial license applications go through DNREC’s Division of Fish and Wildlife. New commercial crab pot and dredge licenses aren’t handed out on request. They’re distributed through an annual lottery, and to qualify you first have to complete Delaware’s apprentice program: at least 150 documented days of commercial fishing activity spread over a minimum of two years.⁵ If you already hold a commercial license, you renew it annually through DNREC.

Crab Pot License Fees

Fees scale with the number of pots authorized. Resident rates:

Up to 50 pots: $28.75
Up to 100 pots: $57.50
Up to 150 pots: $86.25
Up to 200 pots: $115.00

Non-residents pay roughly ten times those figures: $287.50, $575, $862.50, and $1,150 respectively. Each license is tied to a single vessel owned and operated by the applicant or approved designees, and if you hold a resident license, your designees must also be Delaware residents.³

Trotline License

A resident trotline license costs $57.50; a non-resident trotline license costs $575. Commercial trotlines are capped at three anchored long lines totaling no more than 3,600 feet, and crabs must be harvested from a trotline by hand dip net only.³

Crab Dredge License

Dredging for blue crabs requires its own license, separate from pots and trotlines, and available slots are distributed through the same annual lottery.⁵ Dredging is only permitted in designated areas. Crabs taken incidentally by licensed oysterers or clammers during legal dredging may be kept for personal use.³

Catch Limits and Pot Rules

Noncommercial crabbing is permitted in any Delaware tidal waters unless a specific area is posted as closed by DNREC. The daily limit is one bushel of blue crabs per person, and without a commercial license you’re capped at two crab pots.³

Every crab pot you set must be checked and crabs removed at least once every 72 hours. Abandoned pots are a real problem in Delaware waters: Delaware Sea Grant estimates around 30,000 sit in the Inland Bays alone.⁶

Size Limits and Protected Crabs

Minimum sizes depend on the type of blue crab:

Hard-shell crabs: 5 inches from tip to tip of the shell.
Soft-shell crabs: 3½ inches tip to tip.
Peeler crabs: 3 inches tip to tip.

Any crab under the minimum has to go back in the water immediately.³

Mature female crabs, called sooks, are the exception to the hard-shell minimum. You can identify them by the rounded, U-shaped apron on the underside. Because sooks stop growing at maturity, they may be kept at any size.⁷

Egg-bearing females, known as sponge crabs, are protected. Harvesting them is prohibited, and any sponge crab caught must be returned to the water immediately.⁹

Gear Requirements

Buoy Marking

Recreational crab pots must be attached to an all-white buoy showing your full name and permanent mailing address, either inscribed on the buoy itself or on a waterproof tag attached to it. The markings have to stay legible.8Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 7 – Blue Crabs (Callinectes Sapidus) Commercial pots follow separate, more detailed rules that include color-coded floats and specific numbering.¹⁰

Terrapin Excluder Devices

Every recreational crab pot must have a turtle by-catch reduction device installed in each funnel entrance to keep diamondback terrapins from entering and drowning. The device is a rigid rectangular frame of plastic or metal, 1.75 inches by 4.75 inches. You can buy one at local tackle shops or build one from heavy-gauge wire, heavier than 11 gauge.⁷ It’s an easy violation to get cited for, since officers can check compliance just by pulling the pot.

Trotline Hours

Trotlines can’t be used between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. That applies to commercial and noncommercial use alike, and crabs must be harvested from a trotline by hand dip net only.³

Winter Closure

All crab pots, recreational and commercial, must be pulled from the water between December 1 and the last day of February. Commercial trotlines follow the same closure.³ Pots left in the water during the closure can be removed by DNREC’s Natural Resources Police.

Penalties

Delaware classifies fish and wildlife violations as environmental misdemeanors or environmental violations under Title 7, Chapter 13 of the Delaware Code. The two most common categories for crabbing offenses:

Class D environmental violation: fine of $50 to $100 plus court costs. A second Class D within five years increases the range to $100 to $500.
Class C environmental violation: fine of $100 to $250 plus court costs. A repeat Class C within five years raises the range to $100 to $500 and can include up to 20 days in jail.

These cover offenses like crabbing without a valid license, using unmarked pots, or exceeding the daily bushel limit.¹¹ More serious offenses, such as taking sponge crabs or ignoring the winter closure, can be charged at a higher classification. Because buoys carry your name and address, Natural Resources Police can trace abandoned or illegal pots back to their owners.⁶

1
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Recreational Licensing
2
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Fish and Wildlife License Fees
3
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 7 – Blue Crabs (Callinectes Sapidus)
4
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Purchase Recreational Licenses Online
5
Delaware Administrative Code. Title 7 3701 – Shellfish Regulations
6
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. DNREC Helps Keep Waterways Clear of Old Crab Pots
7
eRegulations. Blue Crabs, Clams, Conchs and Oysters
8
9
eRegulations. Blue Crabs, Clams, Conchs and Oysters

Gear Requirements

Buoy Marking
Recreational crab pots must be attached to an all-white buoy showing your full name and permanent mailing address, either inscribed on the buoy itself or on a waterproof tag attached to it. The markings have to stay legible.8Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 7 – Blue Crabs (Callinectes Sapidus)
10
Delaware Administrative Code. Title 7 3715 – Shellfish – Crabs
11
Delaware Code Online. Delaware Code Title 7 Chapter 13 – Enforcement of Game and Fish Laws