Crabbing off the eastern North Carolina coast can be a lucrative business. To make sure crabbers obey the law officers from the North Carolina Marine Patrol are monitoring the water. Their job is to make sure that crabbers are not abandoning their pots. Each pot is checked and tagged to see if they're being fished. Officer Carter Witten says abandoned pots can be a problem since crabs and small fish get in only to die if they're not collected. But there are other issues as well, such as the pot will break down. And officers say that's a hazard as they can get pushed away or blow away into the channel,
Officer Witten says those who are caught violating crabbing laws face fines of about $125.
