Florida's stone crab season opens Thursday, October 15. The first claws you crack this year come from the waters around you. According to Keys Weekly, Keys waters produce about half of Florida's statewide stone crab catch. In the same reporting, stone crab and spiny lobster together accounted for $76.3 million of the $240.5 million wholesale value of Florida's 2024 catch, based on Florida Department of Agriculture figures. Since the start of the 2025-26 season, the figure getting the most scrutiny is the price paid to the people who pull the traps, more than anything printed on a menu.

A season that starts before the season starts

FWC's commercial rules let crabbers set and bait traps 10 days before opening, which this year means October 5. Nobody can tend those traps until the season begins. So the water off Key West has been full of baited traps for a week, and the first legal haul comes Thursday.

The rules that shape what reaches your plate:

• Season: October 15 through May 1. Commercial harvest is closed May 2 through October 14.
• Claw size: The minimum length is 2 7/8 inches. Only claws can be taken, and egg-bearing crabs are protected.
• Trap gear: Starting with the 2024-25 season, wood and plastic traps need an unobstructed 2 3/16-inch escape ring set in a vertical outside wall.
• Cleanup: Traps have to come out of the water within five days after the season closes.

Claws grow back slowly. According to FWC's stone crab biology page, a claw only regrows if the diaphragm at the joint is left intact. An adult usually needs about a year to regenerate one, and the new claw takes about three years to reach 95 percent of its original size.

That slow regrowth is why the size rule and the season dates matter so much. Keys Weekly reported that Keys stone crab landings fell for about a decade starting in 2012. The decline was steep enough that in 2020 the state cut two weeks off the season and raised the minimum claw length by an eighth of an inch. Today's October-to-May calendar and 2 7/8-inch minimum both come from that change.

Why the dock price ended up in court

Ten years of falling supply usually means rising prices. A civil suit filed by Keys fishermen argues that prices at the dock didn't rise the way that supply would predict.

On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a guilty plea from an executive of a Miami-based seafood wholesaler. The charge was conspiring to suppress the prices paid to fishermen for stone crab and spiny lobster between 2023 and 2025. SeafoodNews reported on February 2, 2026 that the executive received five years of probation, with a restitution hearing set for April 3, 2026.

The federal case was only the start. In October 2025, Keys fishermen, including a Key West fishing company, filed two civil suits against several Monroe County-based wholesalers. Keys Weekly reported that the suits allege buyers began meeting at least as early as June 2017 to set per-pound prices before the lobster and stone crab seasons opened, then adjusted them together as the season went on. These are allegations, and no court has ruled on them. The complaint also argues that when competition briefly took hold, wholesale prices for the most sought-after claws reached as much as $50 a pound. One local fisherman told Keys Weekly that dock prices were held between $10 and $20 a pound.

The U.S. Attorney's statement on the plea, as quoted by Keys Weekly:

"Price fixing cheats fishermen, squeezes restaurants, and makes families pay more at the table."

Keys Weekly reported in December 2025 that the civil suits were expected to be combined into a larger class action during 2026. The public docket for one of the suits, viewable on CourtListener, shows an administrative closure on March 5, 2026, a status conference in April, and a status report filed September 9, 2026. Nothing there shows a final ruling or settlement. No one has published opening prices for the 2026-27 season yet, and none of the coverage reports a change in what fishermen are being paid.

Where Key West actually gets its claws

Knowing all that, the people selling claws close to where they're landed are the ones worth knowing. Availability shifts day to day early in the season, so call before you drive over.

• Fishbusterz, Stock Island. A wholesale fishery and retail seafood market in Safe Harbor at 6406 Maloney Ave. Stone crab is its specialty. It's the closest you can get on the island chain's southern end to buying straight from the working waterfront.
• Eaton Street Seafood Market, Old Town. Stone crab is on its list, and its site says it will crack your claws for you. That saves a lot of mess at a home dinner.
• The Stoned Crab. The restaurant specializes in stone crab and says it runs two fishing boats of its own for local catch.
• Half Shell Raw Bar, Historic Seaport. The official Florida Keys stone crab guide, updated for this season, suggests asking about seasonal claws there and eating them looking out at the marina.

Up the road in Marathon, Keys Fisheries runs a restaurant, seafood market, marina and wholesale fishery. Its current site lists jumbo claws, online orders of fresh claws in season, and stone crab soup. The tourism guide calls it Florida's largest processor of stone crab claws.

Why claws come to the counter already cooked

Claws in a Key West case are already cooked, and the reason starts at the fish house. A 2020 Keys Weekly look inside a fish house explained that claws get cooked within an hour of landing because otherwise the meat sticks to the shell. That means the cooking is done before you get them home. What's left is chilling, cracking and dipping.

For anyone cooking fresh claws, the tourism guide gives these times: boil in salted water for 10 to 13 minutes and then move them straight into an ice bath to stop the cooking, or steam for about 8 to 10 minutes, until the meat is opaque and cooked through. Serve them chilled with melted butter or the tangy mustard sauce that usually comes with them. The guide also describes a Keys way to open them. Rather than squeezing with a seafood cracker, tap the rounded part of the claw with the back of a large spoon or butter knife so the shell breaks cleanly and the meat stays whole.

How the season plays out, date by date

1. October 5: The earliest day commercial traps could be set and baited for this season.
2. Thursday, October 15: Opening day. Crabbers can start pulling traps.
3. Early November: Keys Fisheries has held its Stone Crab Eating Contest around this time. The 14th annual contest was November 1, 2025, with each contestant racing to clean 25 claws. No 2026 date has been announced.
4. February 13-14, 2027: The Florida Keys Seafood Festival comes back to Truman Waterfront Park, with stone crab claws on the menu.
5. May 1, 2027: Last day of the season. Traps have to be out of the water within five days after.

The civil suit docketed on CourtListener, one of the cases over what Keys fishermen were paid in past seasons, shows status filings as recent as September 2026 and no final ruling. If the claws at Fishbusterz or Eaton Street cost more or less than last year once this season gets going, those court filings are where to look for the reason.

At Holly's Real Estate, we keep track of what's happening on Stock Island and around the island, from the docks to the dinner table. If your next Keys chapter involves a home close to the working waterfront or a few blocks from your favorite fish market, schedule a free consultation and we'll start with how you actually want to live here.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.