Last year?s drought pushed the blue crabs high into the Chesapeake Bay?s tributaries, making them harder for crabbers to reach and leading to a smaller harvest.
“A lot of the crabbers quit crabbing, because it wasn?t profitable enough for them,” said Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen?s Association.
The weather was one of a few reasons Maryland?s estimated 2007 blue crab harvest was 6 million pounds below last year?s harvest, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
The estimated 2007 harvest is 21.8 million pounds, which is slightly above the state?s record low of 20.2 million pounds in 2000, DNR officials announced Monday.
The low harvest resulted from a reduced fishing effort, the climate change causing the crabs to move farther north and a low abundance of young blue crabs in late 2006, DNR fisheries biologist Lynn Fegley said.
“It really does elevate our concern, and we want to make sure we don?t have a problem,” she said.
DNR officials have begun considering management options, such as limits to the amount harvested, to protect the blue crab population.
The low harvest is affecting restaurants, some of which are ordering crab meat from as far away as South America, said Bob Burdon, president of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce.
However, Maryland?s watermen aren?t too concerned about the harvest numbers, Simns said. Often a few good years of crabbing are followed by a slim harvest.
“We look at the long term and not short term,” he said.
An annual survey, which is now under way and expected to be completed this spring, will give crabbers a better picture of how many crabs are in the Bay.
Each winter, DNR officials sample 1,500 sites around the Chesapeake Bay.
In 1990, an estimated 800 million crabs were in the Bay, according to the DNR.
But that number dipped dramatically to 261 million in 2001. In 2007, there were an estimated 260 million crabs, down from 324 million in 2006.
If the survey finds a dearth of crabs, then it will be time to talk management options for increasing the harvest numbers, Simns said.
“We anticipate some regulations,” he said.’
By the numbers
The estimated 2007 blue crab harvest is 21.8 million pounds, which is slightly above the state?s record low of 20.2 million pounds in 2000, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Examiner Staff Writer Jason Flanagan contributed to this story.
