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Maryland Crabs (Blue Crabs) have been caught commercially in the Chesapeake Bay since the mid-1800s and are integral to the state’s economy. Maryland’s management of daily catch limits is designed to adapt and ensure that annual crab harvests stay balanced with shifts in abundance. Each winter, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources conducts a dredge survey and estimates the number of spawning-age females to ensure a growing population.
Crab is a favorite Maryland food and is prepared in many ways – steamed or sautéed (soft shells), as crab cakes and crab imperial, or in crab soup and crab dip. Crabs grow by molting or shedding their shell. Soft-shell crabs are blue crabs that have shed their hard outer shell and whose new shells have not yet hardened. Soft-shell crabs generally are available from May through September. (source: Tripsavvy.com)
History of crab fishery
As early as the 1600s, the blue crab was an important food item for Native Americans and European settlers in the Chesapeake Bay area. Soft and hard blue crabs were not as valuable as fish but gained regional popularity by the 1700s.
The Chesapeake Bay fishery
The Chesapeake Bay has had the largest blue crab harvest for more than a century. Maryland and Virginia are usually the top two Atlantic coast states in annual landings, followed by North Carolina. In 2013, crab landings were valued at $18.7 million from Maryland waters and $16.1 million from Virginia waters. Although crab populations are currently declining, blue crab fishing in Maryland and Virginia remains a livelihood for thousands of coastal residents. As of 2001, Maryland and Virginia collectively had 4,816 commercial crab license holders. Three separate licenses are required for each of the three major jurisdictional areas: Maryland, the Potomac River, and Virginia waters. While the Bay’s commercial sector lands the majority of hard crab landings and nearly all peeler or soft crab landings, the recreational fishery is also significant. In 2013, an estimated 3.9 million pounds of blue crab were harvested recreationally. (source: Wikipedia)
Recent decline
Blue crab populations naturally fluctuate with annual changes in environmental conditions. They have been described as having a long-term dynamic equilibrium, which was first noted after irregular landings data in the Chesapeake in 1950.This tendency may have made it difficult for managers to predict the severe decline of the Chesapeake’s blue crab populations. Once considered an overwhelmingly abundant annoyance, the declining blue crab population is now the subject of anxiety among fishermen and managers.
This is a test
-John Smith
Over the decade between the mid-1990s to 2004, the population fell from 900 million to around 300 million, and harvest weight fell from 52,000 tons (115,000,000 lbs) to 28,000 tons (62,000,000 lbs). Revenue fell further, from $72 million to $61 million. Long term estimates say that the overall Chesapeake population decreased approximately 70% in the last few decades.
Even more alarming, the number of females capable of reproducing, known as spawning age females, has plummeted 84% in just a few decades. Survival and addition of juveniles to the harvestable crab population is also low.Many factors are to blame for low blue crab numbers, including high fishing pressure, environmental degradation, and disease prevalence.The 2018 reduction in H-2B visas available for seasonal workers is impacting Maryland’s 20 crab processors, which typically employ about 500 foreign workers; however, the effect this will have on the crab fishery is not yet clear.
How much do you know about Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs?
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