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Stone Crab Season Brings Tasty Claws to the Table
October 15, 2006

Annual stone crab season means fresh from the dock crab claws in Everglades City.

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STONE CRAB SEASON OPEN OCTOBER 15
Fresh From the Dock to the Table in Everglades City

Everglades City, Fla. (October 15, 2006) – Florida’s annual Stone Crab Season, which runs from October 15 through May 15, brings fans of tasty stone crab claws to Southwest Florida every year for the freshest claws around. Favorite places to savor a serving of stone crab claws, served cold with a mustard dipping sauce, include the waterfront seafood markets in Everglades City, known as the Stone Crab Capital of the World.

Stone crabbers in Everglades City, Chokoloskee, Isles of Capri and Marco Island work hard to harvest the delectable stone crab claws during the annual season. Claws harvested locally find their way to area restaurants and are also shipped to other Florida and national locations.

One claw is harvested from each crab, which is then placed alive back in the Gulf of Mexico. Stone crabs typically regenerate new claws within one to three years.

Stone crab processing plants along the Barron River in Everglades City serve as stone crab central all during the season. Home to commercial as well as retail markets, businesses like City Seafood, Triad Seafood and Grimm’s Stone Crabs are hot spots for crustacean lovers throughout the fall, winter and spring. People stop by to purchase claws for immediate consumption at waterfront picnic tables or to pack up and take home. Business even increases at the city’s general aviation facility, Everglades Airpark, as pilots fly in for a load of stone crab claws to go.

The Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau is the official tourism management and marketing agency for Collier County, Florida, funded entirely by the Collier County tourist development tax. The CVB provides information and free visitors guides for consumers, travel agents, tour operators and meeting planners online at www.ParadiseCoast.com or by calling 1-800-688-3600.

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