Florida stone-crab prices are in: How much will you pay at markets, restaurants?

Ready to crack into some Florida stone crabs? Customers have some claws for optimism: Costs at most fish markets, restaurant menus and wholesalers are nearly the same as they were at the start of last season, reversing a trend of record-high prices set in 2021 and 2022.

As Florida’s stone-crab season gets underway this week, seafood purveyors from Broward and Palm Beach counties and even the Gulf Coast are all reporting strong customer demand — and mostly healthy supply. That’s because a few first catches were hampered by stiff weekend gusts and heavy surf, seafood purveyors say, preventing smaller crabbing vessels from pulling up traps in the opening days of the season and pinching supplies of the crustacean delicacy.

For Dewey Culbreth, owner of Catfish Deweys in Oakland Park, those shortfalls weren’t big enough to affect prices. Even so, confidence about his potential crab haul over the weekend turned into disappointment when the claws came in at slightly more than a third of his 300-pound order.

“I’m getting some but not enough to do all-you-can-eat yet,” says Culbreth, who is charging $44 per pound for medium-sized claws, $49 for larges and $75 for 1.25 pounds of jumbos in the dining room. “The bigger waves kept the smaller boats in, so I had an inkling I was going to get shortchanged.”

Still, Culbreth thinks his all-you-can-eat deal should resume later this week once the remaining traps are cleared out, though he hasn’t set a price yet.

During the 2023-24 season, which runs Oct. 15 to May 1, much of Florida’s stone crabs are caught in muddy waters off the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Keys and Florida Bay, with some fisheries working the areas near Miami and the Bahamas.

In a meeting on Oct. 4, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — which regulates how many crabs can be caught — set new guidelines for traps: They’re now required to be fitted with a 2 3/16-inch-wide “escape ring” to filter out undersized crabs and curb overfishing, according to its website.

The agency took similar measures in 2020 by cutting short the stone-crab season (which used to end May 15) by two weeks.

Pent-up demand always drives up stone-crab prices at the start of season, which is why dozens of locals were queued up this week to buy claws outside Kirk Fish Co. in Goodland, next to Marco Island, owner Kelly Kirk says. Her waterfront fish house is charging $28 to $30 for mediums, $38 to $40 for larges and $48 to $50 for jumbos.

Kirk, a sixth-generation commercial fisher and a director of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association, says prices also take into account the cost of boat fuel, insurance and bait.

“We don’t want to beat anyone up on the prices, and we want to compensate fishermen so they can make a living and pay for their crew,” she says.

It was an abundant harvest at Billy’s Stone Crab in Hollywood, which is charging $35 for mediums, $48 for large, $68 for jumbos and $75 for colossals at the market — roughly the same as last season, owner Brian Hershey says.

Hershey’s trawlers hauled in 1,580 pounds from Summerland Key and Marathon, where he runs two Keys fisheries, while another supplier in Hernando Beach sent him 2,800 pounds. He’s currently offering all-you-can-eat dinners for $130 for mediums and up to $285 for jumbos.

“It’s a good day when you get 4,000 pounds on the first day,” adds Hershey, who sells to big distributors like Sysco and Halperns’ Steak and Seafood.

Owner Peter Jarvis says most of his initial supplies are spoken for at Triar Seafood in Hollywood, a high-end wholesaler that sells to more than 200 restaurants nationwide. He expects to have more claws by midweek, when his current prices — $39.95 for mediums, $49.95 for larges, $69.95 for jumbos — may start coming down.

He says the cold front sweeping through Florida is steering crabs straight into traps, and the Gulf Coast has been more productive than the Florida Keys. Even so, he was “shocked” when he only received 250 pounds of his 1,000-pound order earlier this week.

“I was like, ‘oof,’ ” he says. “The Keys were very, very slow. But with this cold front coming down, it may loosen some stuff going into this weekend.”

Not every seafood market is grappling with short claw quantities. At Captain Clay and Sons Seafood Market in Delray Beach, co-owner Clay Brand says he received 350 pounds of stone crab, which is nearly what he ordered. He’s charging $32.99 for mediums, $44.99 for larges, $59.99 for jumbos and $69.99 for colossals.

“It’s too early to say it’s one of those loaded years,” Brand says. “But this seems to be a good year, and that keeps the prices nice and stable.”

Elsewhere in South Florida, the kickoff to stone-crab season will be feted in festival form during the South Beach Seafood Festival at Lummus Park in Miami Beach. The Oct. 18-21 event, which costs $60, includes pop-up cafes from Miami restaurants, open bars, games and live music on three stages.