KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.
Tall and stocky Gene Ashton donned an orange rubber apron and gloves, pulled up the first pot, and began dumping crabs on a metal tray - this time for science rather than for market.
His wife, Kristina Bridges, sat on an upside- down bushel basket, waiting with a ruler, a water-resistant note pad, and a handful of small tags.
The job has its hazards. Heavy waves rocked the 32-foot fishing boat enough that standing up was tough. Bridges, wearing sandals, had to watch out for her toes if Ashton or his apprentice, Ray Weed, dropped a well-clawed crab.
Bridges and three other crabbers in the region are part of 13 studies funded by North Carolina Sea Grant, teaming harvesters with biologists to gather data on the blue crab, the state's largest and most profitable seafood species.
Blue crab harvests have fallen from an all-time high of 63.6 million pounds in 1996 to 21.3 million pounds last year, an inexplicable decline, said Lynn Henry, a marine biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.
"We really don't know," Henry said of the reasons.
The state has declared blue crabs a species of concern. Weather, water temperature and salinity, and harvests all can affect blue crab numbers, he said.
This year, blue crabs surprised everybody by turning up in large numbers in the Albemarle Sound. Other places remain low.
"We've seen more hard crabs this time of year than we have seen in years," Bridges said.
Bridges' role is to tag mature female crabs in the Albemarle Sound at the mouth of the North River to help determine migration habits. She and Ashton set baited traps of wire mesh, or pots, in the water not far from Camden Point Shores, a 45-minute boat ride from her launch in the Kill Devil Hills community of Colington.
Her job along with three other crabbers is to tag and measure 150 each per month until the season ends in November.
Funded by the General Assembly, North Carolina Sea Grant spends $500,000 annually on the North Carolina Blue Crab Research Program, said Jack Thigpen, extension director for North Carolina Sea Grant.
Last week, crabs tagged in the Currituck Sound had traveled five miles in one day into the Albemarle Sound, said Bridges who with her father, Murray, owns and operates Endurance Seafood in Colington. Her brother, Scott, is also a crabber.
In the rocky boat, Ashton separated male s from female s by looking on their undersides.
If the belly plate looks like the U.S. Capitol, then the crab's a female. If the plate looks like the Washington Monument, the crab's a male.
Ashton quickly threw the males and small females overboard.
Each large female was tagged by hooking a metal wire on one of the shell tips and wrapping on the other tip. A plastic tag attached to the wire includes an identification number and a toll-free number. Crabbers who return a tag get $5 or a hat marked North Carolina Blue Crab Research Program.
A mature female doesn't shed, so the tag remains wired harmlessly across the top of her shell for the rest of her life.
Bridges measured and tagged the last crab of the day and tossed her overboard. The she-crab disappeared into the murky water of the sound.
According to statistics, it is likely that she'll turn up again in a few days in another pot, this time for market.
For details on the tagging program, call the toll-free number, (866) 737-6808.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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stop blaming the farmers
for the decline in the crab population. Farmers are using fertilizers on ways that don't contribute to run off. This has been a scapegoat for far too long. There are many dynamic reasons for the decline and they ALL should be evaluated.
Chesapeake Bay Crabs vs Sound Crabs & Pollutents?
Do we have a similar study ongoing in the Chesapeake Bay? If not, why not? Does the North River supply the sound with crabs, or do the crabs stay within the sound? Is the harvest total counting only sound crabs or both the Bay and sound?
If one of the causes is overfishing, it seems that the decline in in the number of crabbers should already have had an impact. I visited Tangier Island this summer and they now have only about 40 active crabbers down from over 200 active crabbers ten years ago. I suggest that pollution from storm water runoff from farmers fields and streets is having the greatest impact on the crab population. Are we sampling the crabs for pollutents as well?
There are not many industrtal discharges near the sound waters except whats coming from farmers fields. Therefore, the Sound studies may not translate to what's happening in the greater Bay watershed. I would like to see more pollution prevention efforts being done by or for farmers. Farmers should be required to have State approved Pollution Prevention plans describing how they will reduce and limit fertilizer and pesticide run-off similar to what Industries are required to have for their direc
This is easy, no need for another "study"
I am neither a crab fisherman nor a scientist, but the reason for the decline of the blue crab is easy to pinpoint. Simply put: Overfishing and pollution.
The crab fishery has been over-fished for decades, and pollution from water runoff is causing low oxygen water to pool in certain areas of bay and estuaries which in turn kills off marine life (crabs included).
We need to give the crabs a few years rest just like we did the stripers.
mystry
why is it such a mystery when these females that reseed the waters every year during their spawning season are dug up and pulled from the mud and bottom in winter,not to mention the damage that it does to the sea grass itself are in decline.she crab soup is the reason and greed.you cut down on the millions of eggs and the ability of each crab to survive goes way down.nature has provided these creatures that way like a lot of life on this planet things born in high numbers have a better chance that the few that do survive will go on and repopulate.stop digging the females up in winter and put a total ban on sponge crabs and in a year or there you will see the numbers start coming back.people should be able to feed their family's,these waterman need some kind of help meantime while these crab stocks replenish themselves.we can pay the farmers to not grow certain things why not help these folks.