New Chesapeake crab study points to need to keep protecting females
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Three years after Virginia and Maryland imposed heavy restrictions on crabbing, the iconic blue crab is making a comeback in the Chesapeake Bay. There are more than 460 million, almost double the population four years ago.
But a groundbreaking federal assessment of the crab population released Tuesday says that trend could be reversed if Virginia bows to pressure from state watermen and other groups to loosen the restrictions. Virginia crabbers are calling on the state to open the lucrative winter dredgery near Hampton Roads, where females skitter to hibernate during pregnancy and lay eggs.
The assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said raising the number of female crabs, from about 160 million to 215 million, is key to sustaining the population and perhaps bringing it back to its previous strength of 828 million. The assessment is the first to estimate the population of adult crabs by gender and to study their biology to determine how many offspring they can reasonably produce based on their life cycle.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is scheduled to meet Aug. 23 to discuss proposals to open the dredgery and allow watermen to use more than the current allotment of about 350 crab pots.
In a statement about the federal assessment, Virginia's fisheries chief, Jack Travelstead, indicated that the dredgery near the mouth of the bay could remain closed. "This new science indicates we have a way to go to achieve our goal of having a biologically stable stock with a robust harvest," he said. "This is a sea change in how we will manage the fishery."
Ken Smith, president of the Virginia Waterman's Association, was livid. "I think it's nothing more than politically based science," Mr. Smith said. "I'm tired of watermen getting the short end of the stick.
"Constantly the Virginia watermen have done nothing but obey the laws and regulations put on them, and then it changes," Mr. Smith said. "We've done this thing for three years like we were told to do it, and we were told they would come back and relax the regulations. They have plenty of crabs on the bay."
First Published August 14, 2011 12:00 am
