The Chesapeake Bay blue crab population has increased by 60 percent over the past year, it was announced Wednesday, but it’s still unclear whether those figures will translate into cheaper crab prices for consumers.

The local blue crab population has risen to 658 million crabs, the largest number seen in more than a decade, according to the results of the annual winter dredge survey of the Chesapeake Bay conducted by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.