I thought that technically we were aloowed to, right? we are required to have a current fishing license to surffhish, and as far as I remember there are no closures, bag limits or minimum size requirements on sand crabs (yet!) I dont know what the deal was, he must have had a serious case of quad rash or something like that and was just venting out. In any given case it wouldnt be a bad idea to research the subject and be prepared, I wouldnt be surprised if all of the sudden all these environmentalists decide that perch and corbina and even sand crabs are also in risk of extinction and thus should be protected.