Maryland, Virginia blue crab harvest to be cut 34%

COLONIAL BEACH

The governors of Virginia and Maryland pledged Tuesday to cut by 34 percent the number of female blue crabs that can be harvested this year from the Chesapeake Bay, a major move intended to restore the famed but troubled seafood species.

After hearing the latest scientific estimates of Bay crab populations, which continued to be weak and far below historic norms, the two leaders said the time for action is now.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine described current crab stocks as “in peril” and urged the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to adopt new and stricter rules when it meets next week in Newport News.

The commission already this year has adopted several measures aimed at protecting crabs, but more limits seem to be coming. Among the ideas on tap: a possible early closure of the crabbing season later this fall, and a ban on taking any female crabs as they hibernate near spawning grounds in Hampton Roads each winter.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said that without such dramatic reforms, the $125 million-a-year crabbing industry that has defined the Bay in both states for decades could collapse.

His administration is expected to unveil specific proposals next week for curbing female harvests as well.

“The good news is that the industry can rebound,” Kaine told reporters after a meeting in Colonial Beach, a village on the Potomac River that flies both Virginia and Maryland state flags. “When positive steps are taken, it can rebound.”

Such words, however, will do little to placate the hundreds of commercial crabbers who scratch out a living on the water.

They have complained for years about being over-regulated. And more recently, they have talked about suing government officials for failing to clean up the Bay so crabs can have a decent place to breed and survive.

Watermen blame faltering environmental conditions in the Bay - poor water quality, scant underwater grass beds, excessive natural predation - for sagging crab levels, not overharvesting.

But Kaine and O’Malley, while acknowledging that more environmental cleanup work remains, said too many fishing pressures on a shrinking crab population continues to be “a major factor” in the overall decline.

The governors conceded that new catch restrictions will surely squeeze watermen’s wallets even further, but added that short-term pain should lead to a population boom and more crabs to harvest in two or three years.

“The question we should be asking is, 'What will happen to the watermen if we fail to act now?’ ” O’Malley said.

Environmental groups applauded the announcement Tuesday, saying tough restrictions imposed in a coordinated way between Virginia and Maryland are the key to turning the tide of the fading crab fishery.

“This is huge,” said Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission. “An interstate fishery, such as the blue crab, should be managed in an interstate way. It’s absolutely vital we move this way.”

The meeting itself Tuesday was unusual. Governors of the two states have rarely, if ever, assembled to take on an issue such as crab conservation. But Kaine and O’Malley, both Democrats and both former mayors of big cities (Richmond and Baltimore, respectively), said mounting evidence of a potential crash pushed them to collaborate. Their staffs have been meeting for months on crab policy, culminating in their summit in Colonial Beach.

Scientists from Virginia, Maryland and the federal government released data Tuesday that showed a slight decline this year in the number of adult crabs capable of spawning, continuing a decade-long trend of fewer and smaller females in the Bay.

The number of baby crabs, on the other hand, slightly increased in 2008, the scientists said. But they quickly noted that 2007 was one of the worst breeding years in history, so any increase should be taken in context.

Crab harvests in Virginia and Maryland have historically been around 100 million pounds a year, a rich symbol of bounty and summertime picnics. But they have slid steadily in the past decade, to about 44 million pounds last year - the lowest level since World War II.

Lynn Fegley, a crab scientist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said the statistics also show a dangerously high number of crabs leaving the population each year. No more than 53 percent of all crabs should be caught in any year, she said, but that number has reached nearly 60 percent in seven of the last 10 years.

“The goal,” Fegley said, “is to quickly as we can build that population back up” by closely limiting the female harvest.

Moving swiftly to rebuild stocks this way, she said, “substantially increases the odds” of restoring populations to sustainable levels.

Jack Travelstead, Virginia director of fisheries, said the state already has imposed restrictions this year that should reduce female catches by about 11 percent.

If the state marine commission next week bans winter dredging of female crabs and closes the crabbing season by a month, in late October instead of late November, Virginia can hit the 34-percent reduction goal prescribed by the governors, he said.

“It won’t be easy,” Travelstead said, “but we can do it.”

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com