NEWPORT NEWS
With watermen howling in protest and threatening to sue, Virginia officials passed sweeping limits Tuesday on harvesting blue crabs from coastal waters and the Chesapeake Bay - moves intended to avert a population crash of the famed seafood species.
Most notable among the changes was the end, at least for this year, of the controversial practice of capturing females as they hibernate in the muddy bottom of the Bay each winter, a practice called winter dredging.
Such crabbing will not occur this year for the first time since 1905.
The actions by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, by a 7-2 vote, came after nearly four hours of debate among scientists, state officials, environmentalists and watermen and their families at a packed meeting room in Newport News.
They also came a week after the governors of Virginia and Maryland pledged to cut harvests of female crabs in the Bay by 34 percent this year, and a day after Maryland made its own proposals for meeting the conservation goal.
Scientific studies show crab stocks teetering on the edge of collapse after years of consistent decline and despite dozens of state regulations that over the past 15 years did little to reverse the slide.
To address the problem, the commission also voted Tuesday to:
- Close its season for taking female crabs a month early this fall, on Oct. 27, instead of Nov. 30.
- Require watermen to use 15 percent fewer pots for catching hard crabs and 30 percent fewer pots for taking peeler crab, or those animals about to shed their shells, which later are sold as soft crabs. The rule takes effect May 1.
- Stop issuing recreational crabbing licenses until populations rebound.
- Adopt a get-tough policy for watermen found guilty of two crab-conservation violations in a 12-month period. Offenders must now attend a formal commission hearing in which they could lose their licenses.
- Equip all crab pots with four escape rings, instead of two, to give pregnant females a better chance of reaching spawning grounds. The rule takes effect July 1.
Commission member Ernie Bowden, a commercial fisherman from Chincoteague, voted against the restrictions, saying they will put watermen out of work and may bankrupt some.
Bowden echoed criticisms from other watermen that the real problem with crab stocks is not commercial harvests, but rather the deteriorating ecological conditions of the Bay.
Pollution, excessive nutrients, too much waterfront development, lost underwater grasses, pressures from global warming and increased predation from other fish are the root causes, they argued - factors they cannot control.
"You might as well just shut the whole thing down, and pay these people off with a decent amount of money," Bowden said. His comments drew applause from the overflow crowd.
Also voting against the restrictions was commission member Wayne McLeskey, a real estate magnate from Virginia Beach. He wanted assurances that the government would help find displaced watermen other work.
While the commission's executive director, Steve Bowman, said he would request financial relief from Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other leaders, he could not guarantee the aid.
"If I had the money, I'd gladly pay it," Bowman said.
His comment sparked one waterman to shout back, "You can buy my rig while you're at it."
"I wish I could," Bowman replied. "I really do."
Many watermen who testified against the measures Tuesday asked the commission to delay action for at least a month. Absent that, they threatened to sue the government in a class-action environmental lawsuit.
While sympathizing with their plight, and agreeing that more environmental cleanup is necessary, the majority of commission members were not persuaded.
"Failing to act now is probably the worst thing we can do," said John McConaugha, a
crab scientist and biology professor at Old Dominion University.
The commission, at meetings in February and March, imposed other new rules intended to protect crabs. And members said more changes can be expected before the 2009 crab season opens next March, likely including more limits on pots.
Requiring identification tags on each pot probably will be part of the system as well, officials said.
To some in the crab industry, a $125 million-a-year enterprise in Virginia and Maryland, the changes adopted Tuesday and envisioned next year spell one thing - the end of full-time
watermen on the Chesapeake.
"This may be reduced to a part-time fishery," said Johnny Graham III, whose family runs a crab processing plant in Hampton. "You might have put the nail in the coffin and made this a part-time fishery."
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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crab restrictions
Before I would begin blaming the waterman for causing the decline of the blue crab I would try and get to know something about the fishery.
Man has tried to save the Rockfish, they did a good job at it too. In doing so the population of rockfish are extremely high, we have rockfish in our back bays on the seaside where once there wasn't any. Guess what rockfish love to eat, CRABS. There is another fish that man is trying to manage and that is the Horndog, its a small to medium shark. They are a cold water fish so they are in our waters from about Nov. to April or May. This spring the watermen setting their nets for rockfish or trout were catching thousands of pounds of Horndogs way up in the back bays.
These fish normally are in the ocean. The watermen couldn't keep the Horndogs because the season closed in Jan. and doesn't open again until May after most have already headed up North for the summer. Take a wild guess what Horndogs love to eat? CRABS!! The point I am trying to make is that when man messes with the balance of nature it effects something else. The regulations just past by Va to save the crabs will do little to help unless you can get nature to cooperate.
No other choice
It's either let the crab population recover for a year or three or there won't BE any crabs. Personally, I'd never eat anything that comes out of that sewage pond called the Chesapeake Bay, but others aren't so picky. Give me the Dungeness crab from the clean and clear waters of the Pacific Northwest over the blue crab pulled from the greasy grey foul-smelling sludge of the Chesapeake any day!!
Save the VA Waterman
I did attend the meeting on Tuesday, as I am a bait dealer, blue crab buyer, and owner of a crab picking house/retail store/restaurant on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I am also the wife, sister-in-law, and daughter-in-law of a commercial fishermen. The watermen I deal with daily are my friends and family. I am dismayed by the attitude the average citizen has toward the VA waterman. These guys have a heritage of being proud, hardworking, honest, family guys.
Why is it when supply is low, and demand is high (causing the price per bushel to stay high - basic economics) that the public goes crazy blaming the VA waterman for the shortage? There have been years that there have been so many crabs the waterman practically had to give them away. No one in the public seems to complain during those years because they can get fresh seafood cheap! There have been years like this year that the supply is low and the price per bushel is at a premium. The public raises the roof if the price of a pound of crabmeat goes up, because they want something for nothing.
It's a privilege, not a right
The choice of making a living on the water is a privilege, not a right. When that privilege is abused, you lose it. No one forced them into crabbing, they made a choice at some point in their lives. And naturally, they want to blame someone or something else for a problem that they contribute to. The season on Blue Crabs needs to be regulated, and this is a good start. Harvesting females during the winter shouldn't be allowed in the first place. I'd be in favor of limits on what they can bring in in a week. It's time for the local crabbers to look for other income. Everyone's having to make cutbacks, and they should be no different.
Time to find another job.
The watermen need to start looking for another job, just like everyone else that has found themselves out of work. It is silly how they are just as happy to fish themselves out of a job and complain when limits are put in place to stop the decline of the crabs. Just because they are unwilling to look for work elsewhere, that doesn't give them the right to decimate this natural resource, it belongs to everyone, not just them. Plenty of people have had to find other jobs, it happens every day.
Whatever the reason for the decline, whether it be the environment, the over fishing, or both, the fishery needs to be protected from the people who would just as well pull the last crab out and then complain when they can't catch anything.
litigation net
"Absent that, they [watermen] threatened to sue the government in a class-action environmental lawsuit."
Watermen should include New York and Pennsylvania within their litigation net. The Susquehanna River, one of the largest rivers in the eastern United State, flows 444 miles from upstate New York, through Pennsylvania, and a few miles through Maryland, before emptying into the Bay Harve de Grace. Pollution controls specifically addressing Chesapeake Bay degradation are non-existent in New York and Pennslylvania.
Why have a money grubbing Commercial Fisherman on the Board?
Ernie Bowden, a commercial fisherman from Chincoteague, voted against the restrictions, saying they will put watermen out of work and may bankrupt some.
Like he is going to vote for anything that doesn't help line their pockets!
The restrictions helped bring back the Striped Bass, "Rock Fish", with the same lame excuses from the waterman! They are certainly enjoying the profits from that fishery now!!!!!!
Shifting Blame
Oh yes, continue to be in denial trying to shift the blame everywhere but where it belongs. Watermen trying to catch as many Crabs as possible even if it's the last one.
Fault Line
The fault line for the Bay's declining crab population lies, not with the watermen, but at the mouth of the Susquehanna River, the largest polluter of the Chesapeake Bay. Virginia, Maryland and DC [the Feds to a smaller degree], have made remarkable strides over the last few decades to clean up the Bay and keep it that way. New York State and Pennsylvania have done nothing to control run off into the Susquehanna River, flowing from within their jurisdictions and into the Bay.
Because those states have taken no action, our respective Congreesional delegations must introduce legislation to force New York and Pennsylvania into action.
Solutions are one-sided & unfair!
It is ludacris to suggest that watermen are at fault for the decline in the crab population! These people have been earning an honest living long before the environmental changes took place.
While it may be necessary to limit the harvest NOTHING was said and nothing is being done to help this industry by either the federal or state governments. Why not? If we can give the oil companies tax credits and the farmers huge subsidies [and now the farmers are making huge profits complements of ethanol through forced demand and subsidies, that we're paying for in the grocery store] then we can find a way to help these folks who, at no fault of their own, are being crushed by the consequences of regulation.
Stop beating your chest as the big eco saviour and do something Kaine!
Do they have to ..
Do threy have to buy all new traps with the extra escape holes ? That could be expensive......
They're probably right but it doesn't matter
They're probably at least partially right about the decline not being their fault, but it really doesn't matter. This is a preservation effort and not a punishment. They'll be in even worse shape if the decline is not stopped.
Crabs
I'm sorry you cannot harvest all you want. We all have to cut-back on something and I believe the watermen are no exception. I'd love for my great-grandchildren to taste the crabs. If the waterman have their way, there won't be anymore crabs next year, let alone next generation. Sorry!
Crabs
I do feel compasion for the waterman, but I cant seem to put my hands around why they are so up in arms. This situation was created by them and over fishing. We have to do something to curb the decline in crabs. Once we harvest them all then what will the waterman do??? Sue the state because now we have no crabs??? That is the price of being in that sort of business. We do not have an endless food supply here on earth and we have to act.
Harvest Limits Necessary for Awhile
Having worked in a fish market a couple of times at a few locations, it is understandable that those working to harvest a marketable commodity are concerned that their livihood is threated. Seafood is not like a tomato or carrot - plant, return, see, and harvest. Chances are taken when ever they leave the dock be it foul weather, broken equipment, or unfilled bushel baskets. The lack of harvestable resources in the Bay and its tributaries is due to many factors including some amount of over harvest. It was quite sad to see busted sooks in crabs being sold. Hundreds of possible crabs essentially were flushed down the drain with every female crab sold at market. Winter crabs dredged from the Bay's bottom are typically sandy in texture and damaged from the harsh action of removing them from their winter sleep. Stop the winter dredging and return all female crabs to the water. Allow some period of recovery, at least for the mom-crabs and their loads of hundreds of thousands of eggs and replacement larvae every season. Crab cakes-yum yum-now and forever.