Lenoir Resident Creates New Crab Trap for Conservation and Environmental Protection Methods

NAGS HEAD, N.C. - Nov. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- ~Lenoir Resident, Dr. Joseph A. Resnick, is a familiar face at the universities and science centers in and around the city of Terengganu, located in northeastern peninsular Malaysia.  “Dr. Joe”, as he’s known among Faculty and Students, is the ‘Principal Research Fellow’ at one of the major universities in Terengganu.  Dr. Resnick accepted the position in Malaysia in early 2013 but still maintains a home and office in the Happy Valley neighborhood of Lenoir.  Dr. Joe is no stranger to developing new gadgets and technologies.  As a former NASA Scholar and Scientist he has some 26-plus issued and pending US and Foreign Patents to his credit, including, among various other inventions, oil spill cleanup technologies that use microencapsulated microbes to consume spilled oil.

A staunch Environmentalist and nominee for both the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement  (USC-Los Angeles) and the St Andrews Prize for the Environment (University of St Andrews, Scotland), Dr. Joe is also an avid sport fisherman and a “long-time waterman, crabber and lobsterman”, he says.  Dr. Joe is the developer of a number of gadgets used worldwide in recreational and sport fishing, e.g., ‘The Hand-Off’ belt mounted fishing pole holder and ‘The Sand Spike’ (US Patent #5,052,146), both of which can be found in use by fisherman and sport enthusiasts in villages, on boats and on beaches worldwide.

Dr. Joe’s latest invention is a new device that he calls, "Grab-Crab(Tm).  He said the gadget is “used to catch only one crab, squid or lobster at a time”  and that he got the idea for the invention while he and his grandson were fishing and ‘saw people catching large numbers of Blue Crabs, most too small for harvesting, but were being left to die without being eaten’.  Dr. Joe said that when he saw this happening and the way people were catching crabs and other aquatic life, indiscriminately using crab traps and lobster pots to catch individual species he knew would never be used nor eaten by fishermen, he came up with the idea to make a new kind of fishing appliance that ‘would catch only one crab, or one squid, or one lobster, and only above a certain weight and below a certain size’.  See the web page at http://grab-crab.weebly.com/ .

The gadget, affectionately dubbed by Dr. Joe as, ‘The Grab-Crab™”, works on the same principle as a common hair clip.  A small spring inside the device forms the operational foundation of the invention.  The tiny spring enables a spring-activated jaw that makes up most of the invention to open and close.  The device is attached to a fishing line and is triggered when one crab touches the bait.  In doing so the crab triggers the “grab” mechanism and the jaw closes, capturing the crab between the jaws in a gentle, but firm, manner.  When activated, the fisher feels tension on the line and knows that the trap has been activated and that the crab has been captured.  The crab is then drawn into shore and immediately placed inside a cooler or other sanitary holding means.  The “Grab-Crab”™, because of its design, eliminates the need for the fisher to have to use other tools to handle the catch, such as long-handled cooking tongs.  To remove the catch one simply squeezes the device which results in opening of the jaws and releasing of the catch directly into the desired container or holding means.  The fisher’s hands never come into contact with the catch thus making the process safer and more sanitary for both fisher and catch.

Dr. Joe stated that ‘The ideal size for harvested crabs, e.g., those found in the waters of the South China Sea, is about 400 grams, or just slightly over one half pound’.  He continued, saying, “It’s wasteful to take more food from the ocean than a person needs to feed himself or his family.  And it’s shameful to capture marine animals and let them die and go to waste just because you caught too many or that a trap catches more than one person can eat in a 24-hour period”.

Dr. Joe said that “The Grab-Crab^TM “ is safe, fun, quick and easy to use, and that he hopes it will be enjoyed by people all over the world for many generations to come.  He said other benefits from use of the invention will help to reduce the stressors to marine animals by reducing the number of smaller individuals caught while simultaneously preventing capture of larger individuals, generally considered as ‘brood stock’.  He continued, ‘In other words, I designed the device so it can’t capture smaller crabs or marine animals and cannot capture larger ones that are usually carrying eggs or are breeding stock.  It’s designed to capture specimens falling between optimal ages and weights.  In using this new method of harvesting marine life we can assure that there will be future generations of marine animals, that the smaller ones may be harvested in the future and larger ones will be able to function as brood stock, as nature had intended’.   Dr. Joe said that he designed the device to catch and hold ‘slightly over ½ pound of buoyant weight, which, if measured on dry land would be about 3/4^th of a pound per catch’.  You can see Dr. Joe using the Grab-Crab(Tm) at his favorite fishing spot in the South China Sea at this link on Youtube.com at http://youtu.be/3_WKXPntrL0 .



Dr. Resnick will be holding a number of lectures concerning environmental conservation related to the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab at a number of events planned for summer, 2015, in Baltimore, Nags Head, Wilmington and Virginia Beach.  The presentations will focus on carcinology, or the study of crabs, and will be held at public events in collaboration with state and local conservation groups.

Dr. Joe concluded the interview by stating that he believes, “In the larger scope of things, by reducing the number of crabs, squid and other marine animals we catch that are not used as a food source, we can have positive impact on the gentle eco-balance of nature by reducing environmental stressors to marine populations.  Marine animals produce eco-friendly gasses and other environmental by-products that are beneficial to Man, to the oceans and the Earth’s environment in general.  By reduction of over-harvesting of marine life we can reduce, prevent or eliminate entirely any additional impact that absence or depletion of these beneficial gasses could have on climate change.”

The “Grab-Crab” ™ is being developed and readied for marketing by Dr. Resnick in collaboration with RMANNCO, Inc. of Lenoir, North Carolina, USA.  See a video slideshow at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAl0vvtmtcE&edit=vd .  Have Fun and Conserve!