Zinc anodes have been shown by field tests to be one effective method of preventing salt water corrosion on mesh wire enclosures used to trap crabs.
About a half million dollars of galvanized poultry wire goes into the construction of crab pots for the Chesapeake Bay area alone. These pots trap over 50 million pounds of blue crabs during the eight-month crabbing season running from April until late in November.
The pots, two-foot square devices made of 1½-inch wire mesh, have a lower chamber, which contains the bait holder, and an upper chamber. Crabs attracted by the bait enter through funnels in the lower chamber. When they lunge for the bait, their upward thrust carries them into the upper chamber, where they are trapped.
At the start of the season, the crab fishermen of Virginia and Maryland place about 200,000 baited pots in the bay. By August, salt water corrosion...
