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Virginia is proposing tighter regulations on the crab harvest after a survey showed the population of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay is the lowest in the survey’s 33-year history.
Virginia’s crab fishery is a $35 million-a-year business for more than 2,700 watermen, mainly on the Peninsula and the Middle Peninsula.
While the Virginia Marine Resources Commission wants to keep the hard crab pot season the same this year and next, it is proposing the season for all other legal gear next year to be 30 days shorter, from April 15 to October 15, with the season to start 15 days later in 2023.
Daily catch limits for hard crab pot licensees will be reduced in October and November by between 20% to 43% from last year’s level.
“The proposed changes to the regulations are in response to the poor numbers observed by the Bay wide Winter Dredge Survey,” said Pat Geer, chief of fisheries management for VMRC and chair the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee, the body that makes science-based recommendations for managing the fishery.
That survey found the number of crabs in the Bay fell to 227 million.
The survey also reported the third straight year of below-average numbers of juvenile crabs, although the number was up 18% from last year’s level, reaching 101 million juveniles.
The adult female crab population, another key indicator of population trends, declined to 97 million — the target number is 196 million.
Virginia’s 2021 commercial harvest of 18 million pounds was one of the lowest in the past decade, but it is below the threshold that would signal overfishing.
That trigger is a harvest of 37% of the adult female population, and the 2021 commercial and recreational catch amounted to 26% of that population.
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High crab prices meant that despite the 15% drop in the size of the catch, the total dockside value of crabs rose 14% to $35 million.
While Chesapeake Bay water quality and submerged aquatic vegetation continued to improve, low oxygen levels caused by fertilizer runoff are still a problem for crabs. A lack of the sea grasses, where juveniles and soft shell crabs hide from predators is also a major problem, the commission has said.
Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com