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Who says there’s no free lunch? You just have to know where to find it—and not be squeamish

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By Chris Gonzalez published Oct 1, 2008

Image Credit: Ryan Snook

Who says there’s no free lunch? You just have to know where to find it—and not be squeamish

James Sherret’s friends call him the Crab Whisperer. “I just catch them,” he says with a laugh when asked about his nickname. “I don’t make them happy about it.” Along with his pal Chad Brealey, Sherret regularly fishes for salmon and forages for seafood, mushrooms, and berries in and around Vancouver. When it comes to crabs, they don’t use conventional metal traps laden with raw chicken—they hit the water and catch them by hand. “When our friends found out what we were doing, their first response was ‘You’re crazy’—quickly followed by ‘When can I come?’ It’s not an exact science, but we get better at it all the time.”

Both men are in their late thirties and have regular jobs—Sherret is in online advertising and Brealey is a communications director—yet they can be found diving for Dungeness and red rock crabs as often as their schedules permit. “It’s a pretty lightweight operation,” explains Sherret. “You don’t even need a boat. All you need is a mask, snorkel, fins, and a wetsuit.” You’ll find them diving in the frigid North Shore waters in the early morning when the tide is low and the visibility is good. Brealey has a nylon bag with a collapsible opening strapped to his waist for his catch. (“Not for long,” he says with a grin. “When you’ve got a couple of angry crabs in there it’s none too comfortable.”) The red rocks, slightly smaller than Dungeness, have very sweet meat—they’re also particularly nasty, with pincers that can pierce a neoprene glove. “You want to grab them by their hindmost legs and get them in the cooler as soon as you can,” Sherret warns.

Finding your own food conjures romantic notions of living off the land, but it’s not that simple. “Not everybody is prepared to eat something that was fighting for its life in your hands just a few moments earlier.” Foraging for crabs requires a saltwater-fishing licence—easily acquired online—that limits you to four crabs per person per day. Females (distinguished by the wide triangular ridge on the belly) must be put back, along with anything smaller than 15 centimetres—which means the crab calipers are always close at hand. Sherret’s number one rule? Never reveal your secrets. He’ll share his crabs, but not where he finds them.