Maryland may cut the crab harvest by up to 40 percent to help restore the population in the Chesapeake Bay.
To reduce the female crab harvest, crabbers may be limited in the number of bushels they can harvest, the size of the crabs or the times they can harvest, according to draft management options released Wednesday from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
“We have a series of ideas here that we are putting out that are designed to get us to a certain reduction in the harvest of females,” said Frank Dawson, DNR?s assistant secretary for aquatic resources.
The regulations may be combined to reach between a 20 percent and 40 percent reduction in the female crab harvest. The results of a winter survey of crabs, to be released next week, will direct how drastic the reduction needs to be, Dawson said.
“We are hoping for a time in the near future where we have a larger population of crabs,” he said.
The crab population has dropped dramatically since the early 1990s. In 1990, an estimated 800 million crabs were in the Bay, according to DNR. Last year?s winter survey estimated about 260 million crabs, down from 324 million in 2006.
Regulations put in place in 2000 helped stop a drastic dip, but the population hasn?t rebounded, said Lynn Fegley, a DNR fisheries biologist.
“Now let?s try to crank up our odds for better reproduction,” she said.
For example, a commercial crabber may be limited to seven bushels a day per boat in April for a 20 percent reduction and six bushels for a 30 percent reduction, according to the draft options.
Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen?s Association, said the DNR?s options started out as a 15 percent reduction, and increasing that goal to up to 40 percent is unreasonable.
“They are going to put crabbers out of business, and they don?t know if it will work or not,” he said.
