DNR Warns Chesapeake Crab Population is Dwindling
posted 10:54 am Sun September 23, 2007 - ANNAPOLIS, Md.
So far, the DNR is not imposing restrictions on the crab harvest. Instead, it's working with watermen to try to figure out how the fishery can remain sustainable.
The crabbing industry is one of Maryland's last viable fisheries, and DNR officials say they want to keep it viable.
"The goal is to keep the crab fishery in business, and the goal here is to think of some way to do that," Lynn Fegley, fishery operations director at the DNR, told a group of watermen at a meeting Thursday night. "I don't think you guys want the State House doing it for you."
The concern was sparked by survey that found the second-lowest number of juvenile crabs since the state began counting in 1989. The dredge survey, which counts crabs when they're burrowed into the bottom during the winter and are easy to see, is considered an accurate depiction of what is living in the bay.
Fegley expects the combined Maryland and Virginia harvest for this year will be about 48.7 million pounds, about the same as last year. However, with the small number of juveniles, that number exceeds the department's overfishing threshold by about 10 percent.
"That's cause for deep concern," said Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, which helped to enact crab restrictions in both states seven years ago. "Our very best scientists should be assigned to the case. The blue crab is, without debate, one of the Chesapeake's finest resources, so to put our icon in jeopardy would be crazy."
This information is preliminary, officials stressed, saying it's intended as a warning to watermen.
Officials want to avoid a situation like the one faced in 2000, when the crab population seemed to be in free-fall and both Maryland and Virginia implemented restrictions. Virginia created a sanctuary for spawning females, and Maryland shortened the crabbers' day to eight hours and required them to take one day a week off.
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Information from: The (Baltimore) Sun
Latest Comment on DNR Warns Chesapeake Crab Population is Dwindling
gloria1107
7:48 pm on 09/22/07
I thought the problem this year was the weather. I was told that due to the lack of rain that the crabs are not coming to this area and the ones that are here stay on the bottom of the bay. No one has to tell us it is a bad year for crabs - that is not news. Should we all go water the bay?
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