How to manage and transport blue crabs, at the coast and inland. 

I live at least 3 hours from saltwater and crabbing. Typically, any trip to the coast has a crabbing component for me, like running a few crab pots passively while fishing in the bay. Crabs would typically be either consumed while at the coast, or at least cooked and cooled before the trip home. The enjoyment of crab has long been overshadowed by the difficulty in successfully transporting crabs back to the places I'd like to cook and eat them.

A good haul of crabs can actually cause some stress because transporting the crabs in peak summer crabbing season means trying to get them back alive and frisky enough to be cooked once I got home. Crabs must be impeccably fresh, and preferably very much alive, when cooked (with some exceptions).

It was during these moments that I realized that the crabs' soul was, in fact, the edible part.

Here are some methods for optimizing blue crabs, which are ironically easy to catch but hard to keep fresh.

Preparing Crabs for Transport

1. The Multi-Day Coastal Strategy. This one is great for a small to medium sized group of people crabbing and fishing. It involves constantly cooking crabs throughout the trip, enjoying some fresh, and chilling surplus picked meat for transport back home. In this case, we drop crab traps and check them 2-3 times a day (this often involves staying at a location that has a pier, dock or easy access to the pots). Trapped crabs are shaken into the top part of the pot (the "salon") so they can't escape and the trap returned to the water so they stay fresh. A pot for boiling or steaming them is pretty much kept on the stove or a propane burner and the crabs-as soon as we are ready-are gathered into a basket and proceed immediately into the pot. These crabs are cooked and either eaten right then, or picked for transport home or other dishes (garlic crab noodles, crab dip, crab cakes). I will reuse the crab boil liquid a few times, since you're bringing it up to a boil each time. Just make sure that any claws and other bits get removed from the pot each time. Boiled crabs can also be chilled quickly and transported home from there, preferably on copious amounts of ice. 
2. The Big Crab Boil with More Work for Dessert. This involves cooking a big batch on the last night of the trip, eating most of them then and there, but knowing that we are cooking extra and everyone is expected to stay at the table and contribute to future crab dinners by picking crab meat. This meat is immediately chilled and refrigerated.
   

Cleaning Crabs. By shocking live crabs in lots of ice or ice water to slow them down enough to safely handle them, but not kill them, you can "clean" them. This is done by removing the abdomen on the bottom of the crab (this also indicates sex), which then gives you access to the top shell or carapace. Pry this top part off and then remove the gills (greyish, stringy things in either side of the body) and the yellowish, soft guts from the middle of the crab. Wash this well (a hose with some water pressure works great here) to remove all the intestines. This method works well, but you will see a degradation in meat texture, although it can be subtle. But this does align with my theory that once the crab dies, its meat soul starts to leave its body. Cleaned crabs should be chilled as soon as possible and kept very cold until they're cooked. Pack bagged, cleaned crabs on lots of ice and cover with more ice. I would recommend cooking cleaned crabs within a day at the most. Cleaned crabs are an easy way to transport crabs, but are not as good as live crabs.

Transporting Crabs

1. Transporting Live Blue Crabs in a Cooler. Leave ice bagged in the cooler, with the drain plug open to allow melted ice to run out. Lay a saltwater-soaked towel or burlap over the ice. Place the crabs on top of the first towel/burlap, then cover the crabs with a second towel/burlap. The lid needs to be very slightly opened to allow for air to enter, otherwise they can suffocate. Keeping the crabs cold and moist will buy you about 24 hours. Beyond that timeframe and you're looking at them dying, in which case their meat souls will go to crab heaven. Crabs will feel lighter once they've died, and they seem to literally lighten up quickly upon death. A heavy crab is generally still good to cook, and a very light crab with brittle shell is likely dead and will offer only a scant amount of very soft meat.
2. Transporting Live Blue Crabs in an Aerated Tank or Water-Filled Cooler. Fill an insulated cooler with water (choose clean salt or brackish water from the area you're crabbing - tap water will kill them) and run an aerator pump into the water. Again, leave the lid slightly askew. This is obviously the most difficult (and heaviest) route, but can be great for keeping them alive and very active until ready to cook. An aerated tank can also be used to store live crabs on site, though I usually just get them into the top part of a trap for that purpose.