The Chesapeake Bay blue crab fishery was declared a federal disaster Tuesday, opening the door to possible loans and financial aid for struggling watermen and seafood businesses in Virginia and Maryland.
Congress, however, still must approve funds for ailing merchants and water men who sell, buy or distribute crabmeat.
By late Tuesday, several lawmakers pledged to seek money that could be voted on as early as this week.
Though the legislators did not specify how much they would request, officials have estimated the economic hit on the troubled crab industry at between $11 million and $15 million over the next three years.
Politicians, environmentalists and commercial crabbers applauded the disaster declaration announced by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, coming after four months of deliberation.
It was the first time in Virginia history that a seafood species and its supporting industry have been deemed in such dire straits - let alone a species as famous and iconic as the pugnacious blue crab.
"This determination recognizes the importance of the blue crab harvests to the Chesapeake Bay community and the impact this decline is having on the regional economy," Gutierrez said in a statement Tuesday.
The governors of Virginia and Maryland requested the declaration in May, in the wake of both states enacting tough new regulations intended to cut catches of female crabs by 34 percent this year.
The two Bay states acted jointly after a decade of slumping harvests and scientific studies that showed serious and prolonged population declines - by as much as 70 percent since the mid-1990s. Without help, scientists warned, the entire species might collapse.
James Jenrette, president of the Lower Eastern Shore Watermen's Association, said crabbers would rather have work than receive help.
"One of the deals with the watermen is they've got a lot of pride in their work and they work hard," Jenrette said, "and they'd rather be working than collecting any kind of government assistance."
Many watermen remain unconvinced that crab stocks are in trouble.
They note that crab abundance has always been cyclical and is greatly influenced by weather and predators, and that if government really wants to help, officials should get serious about cleaning up the Bay instead of regulating water men.
Officials agree that more needs to be done for the Bay's health, but they also believe reductions in harvest pressure are important.
"While the fishing restrictions enacted earlier this year are necessary to ensure that the blue crab fishery recovers, it is clear that the pocketbooks of Virginia's watermen community have been directly hit," U.S. Sen. Jim Webb said in a statement Tuesday.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who has won few friends among watermen after his insistence on action, also issued a statement Tuesday.
"The 2007 harvest of blue crabs from both Virginia and Maryland waters was at near-record low levels - slightly more than 19 million pounds in Virginia and just under 22 million pounds in Maryland," Kaine said.
"Preliminary harvest reports from this spring and summer show little improvement."
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
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U.S. Sen. Jim Webb said in a statement Tuesday.
There goes more of our hard earned money to help support the freebies that the waterman will get for overharvesting crabs........
I wouldn't eat ANYTHING that came out of the Chesapeake!
The Chesapeake is nothing but a huge chemical cesspool and I wouldn't eat anything that came out of that chemical sludge. Crabs which are the cockroaches of the sea are dying from the pollution in the Chesa-Puke and that alone should send a huge red flag that they are not fit for human consumption! Give me a King Crab or a Dungeness Crab from the clean and clear waters of Sarah Palin's Alaska not Tim Kaine's Chesa-Puke
Bay. The state should have stopped harvest of the blue crabs years ago because of the contamination of the water--take a LOOK at it! Worse still, can you SMELL how NASTY IT IS? Look at the oil and chemical slicks floating on top of it and tell me you would EAT something that came out of that sludge!
Many factors
A month ago there was article in this paper about how a local processing plant could not find enough help to process the crabs. At local seafood markets, a bushel goes for $100 to $150 per bushel. However I can go to several marinas where crabbers work out of and buy them for less than $50/bushel. Environmental laws have been around a long time and so have the issues in the bay. With all the neighborhood restrictions and more environmentally-friendly products, I find it hard to believe the bay's health is getting worse (from manmade issues). Based on these two points, something is not adding up in the crab industry.
Now Target Pollution!
This summer, I visited Tangier Island located in the center of the Chesapeake Bay. There are currently 40 active crabbers on the Island, down from 200 just ten years ago. If over-fishing was the true cause of the crab decline, and we have less crabbers, something is wrong with this equation. I now believe the Crabbers and the culprit is pollution. Perhaps declairing the crab issue a disaster, will open the doors to federal funding but what are the Bay watershed states doing to reduce pollution? Also, where is the EPA on this issue?
females
to all the waterman,it took them long enough i am glad you can get some relief.now help your resource and make your industry come back in full swing,stop taking the spongecrabs and let them lay their eggs for a few years.they only hatch eggs once in their lifetime.stop the winter dredging on the Chesapeake bottom for spongecrabs .we did it with the strippers and they came back.