anyone can go and put traps out for crabs, anywehere. no other angler can stop you doing that.
some just want to go through others traps though.
just imagine, you have put many hours of sreiously hard work not just digging the tyres in but in some cases carrying hundreds of them 2 at a time for up to 1/2 mile. then regularly going down to find someone else is already doing them and your not going to get anything out of them. its even bad if someone did them the tide before you, you will get little out of them.
the reason there is so much hostility towards people raiding traps is to set a president.
the odd person doing them occasionally happens all the time and apart from being there every single tide you cant stop it. this isnt a problem though.
it starts when everyone thinks its a free for all to go through any trap they find.
you then end up with a situation where people dont go looking through rocks and weed when there are lines of traps you just need top put your hand in. once this happens the guy who originally put them in gets nothing from them and all the effort he originally put in.
our only solution to stop this is try our best to keep everyone out of them. i even get annoyed if the guy who has traps next to mine goes through mine as i dont touch his.
sorry, welcome to the site, daktorin