Most crabbing rows start the same way: someone blocks a ladder, leaves bait mess on the pontoon, or keeps a bucket of stressed crabs in the sun while they queue for ice cream. None of that is complicated to avoid.
This is the manners and welfare side of a family session. For edges, tides and shoes, use the safety guide. For how to drop a line, see how to crab with kids.
Working harbours come first
A pretty quay is still a workplace. Ferries, trip boats, fishing boats and tenders need space. If a boat is coming alongside, pull your lines, step back, and wait. You are the guest.
At Fowey, crabbing is allowed from the shore-linked pontoons, but boats take priority and you are expected to keep clear of other harbour users. That is not optional holiday folklore — it is how the harbour runs.
Fowey’s crabbing code (worth reading even if you are not in Cornwall)
Fowey Harbour publishes a short Crabbing Code (PDF). The headlines:
- Refresh seawater regularly
- Only use a net bag for the bait
- No more than three crabs in a bucket
- Keep crabs in the shade
- Remove crabs that are fighting
- Carefully put crabs back in the water
- Take all your equipment with you
Their habitat pages also note lifejackets are advisable for children and that crabbing may be restricted for operational needs on pontoons. Read the code before you set up; the Fowey spot guide points to the same rules.
Even where a harbour has not printed a leaflet, those points are a solid default: small numbers in the bucket, shade, careful release, no litter.
Crowding without spoiling it
- Leave room at ladders, steps and ferry gates.
- Do not stretch lines across where people walk.
- If the popular pontoon is rammed, move. At Fowey I have used the Passage Street slipway when Town Quay pontoons were packed — quieter, still a few decent catches, less elbows.
- On busy Blakeney days the quay fills with families; be patient, share edge space, and remember little ones still need an adult within reach on an open edge.
Look after the crabs
Crabbing should be kind as well as fun.
- Fresh seawater in the bucket; top it up.
- Shade on hot afternoons.
- Do not overcrowd. Fowey’s “three” is a strict local limit. Elsewhere, empty often — we have returned crabs regularly on big Blakeney hauls rather than building a tower in the bucket. The safety guide’s “empty every ten and go again” is the same idea: look, then release.
- Never throw crabs back from height. Lower them or tip gently at the waterline.
- Check the net before you leave — pipefish and other small hangers-on need returning too.
If you see a crab carrying an orange or reddish mass underneath, that can be eggs (“berried”). Treat those animals gently and put them back promptly — Fowey’s crab count pages note the same.
Bait, mess and leaving no trace
- Use a bait bag so the harbour does not get a carpet of bacon.
- Take wrappers, cable ties and broken plastic lines home.
- Rinse hands away from drinking-water taps if you can; sanitiser helps before snacks.
Kids, competition and tone
Do not turn the quay into a tournament. The best days are usually the messy ones where three tiny crabs get names and a story on the drive home — not a sulk about who “won”.
Keep voices down early or late if houses sit on the harbour. Wave the ferry through. Thank shops that sell bait and eco nets; they make the day easier for the next family.
Related
Safety guide · How to crab with kids · Gear & bait · Tides · Fowey guide · Fowey Crabbing Code (PDF)