The pain of the blue crab harvest restrictions should be softened a bit next year with the state’s proposal to spread the closures out throughout the season.
“It’s a lot better than we had last year,” said Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association.
Instead of halting commercial crabbing early at the end of the season, which was done this year, crabbing will be barred during three periods next year. This spreads out the restrictions along the Chesapeake Bay, Simns said.
This year’s restrictions hit crabbers in the lower part of the Bay harder because of the way crabs migrate, said Olivia Campbell, spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
For 2009, DNR has proposed http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/regulations/200Irwin Stelzer:26398789:26398789:Irwin StelzerrabProposalSummary.pdf to close the commercial season for harvesting mature female hard crabs from June 1 to June 15, Sept. 26 to Oct. 4 and Nov. 11 to Dec. 15.
“We recognize the impact of these regulations, but we are trying to spread that out so it’s more manageable,” Campbell said.
The restrictions, which go into effect in March, also will include daily bushel limits for female hard crabs, which will be set after the winter dredge survey is completed in the spring.
The restrictions aim to reduce the harvest by 34 percent to ensure that no more than 46 percent of the blue crab population is harvested each year, according to DNR.
Also in 2009, recreational crabbers — anyone who takes a crab out of the Bay — would have to register with DNR for the first time. This would allow state officials to get a better handle on how many crabs are being harvested each year, Campbell said.
“We need to get the information so we can better manage the fishery,” she said.
DNR’s winter dredge survey samples 1,500 sites around the Chesapeake Bay. In 2007, there were an estimated 260 million crabs, down from 324 million in 2006 and 800 million in 1990.
Although it’s too early to see if the restrictions are working, Simns said he doesn’t expect DNR to ease these limits anytime soon.
“If I was a betting man that would be my bet that we are probably stuck with these.”
