Florida's 2024-2025 commercial stone crab season opened as scheduled on Oct. 15, but the fishery is still off to a slow start thanks to Hurricane Milton, reports Garden & Gun, an online magazine focused on southern US culture.

Florida's stone crab season runs from mid-October through May 1. While harvesting outside of those dates is unlawful, commercial fishermen are allowed to place baited traps in the water 10 days before the start of the season.

In the case of the 2024-2025 season, harvesters would have been allowed to place their traps in the water on Oct. 5. However, the state was battered by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm in the Big Bend region of Florida.

Hurricane Milton formed around the same time and, in the days after Helene, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission urged vessel owners to secure their boats. The second hurricane ultimately made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Oct. 9.

Most fishermen waited out the storm before hitting the water, not wanting to risk losing traps, which cost around $50 each, plus other fees. Despite the devastating damage of the back-to-back storms, stone crab harvesters pushed forward as soon as it was safe. 

"Usually, we leave a trap out for 13 days," Roger Duarte, CEO of Miami, Florida-based wholesaler George Stone Crab, told Garden & Gun. "It's like if a rocketship landed on Earth; the crabs get scared. But after a few days, they smell the bait and get curious." 

This year, Duarte only plans to wait 10 days. He told the outlet that he's hoping the slow start will right itself quickly. However, the publication noted that the delay in putting out the traps will result in slightly more expensive claws.