“Our slogan, ‘Don’t Get Pinched,’ is a lighthearted way of reminding people to play by the rules while crabbing because rest assured, we will do everything in our power to catch violators,” said Col George F. Johnson IV, NRP superintendent.
The campaign takes aim at those who ignore State regulations on minimum sizes, possession limits, harvest hours and crab pot registrations. Officers also will be on the lookout for recreational crabbers who keep female crabs, which is illegal in Maryland.
“We will use every enforcement tool available to us, including saturation patrols, undercover operations, night vision equipment, and the cameras and radar units of the Maritime Law Enforcement Information Network,” said Johnson.
The reason for the effort is based in science, explained Lynn Fegley, DNR Fisheries deputy director.
In 2013, the crab population experienced very poor reproduction – very few young crabs arrived in the Bay that year. These crabs grew to adults during the summer of 2013 and were then subjected to the severe cold of last winter, which caused the death of between 20 percent and 30 percent of adult crabs in Maryland.
“It was a double whammy,” Fegley said.
The 2014 Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey results showed the abundance of spawning-age females at 69 million, just below the minimum safe level of 70 million. The density of harvestable crabs, male crabs greater than 5 inches and females that could potentially spawn declined in 2014.
As a result, regulators in Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River are collaborating to provide additional protection for the female crabs, Fegley said.
Johnson said that with temperatures rising in the Chesapeake Bay and coastal bays and crabbing activities reaching their peak, now is the time to know and follow the rules.
“Nothing symbolizes Maryland more than the blue crab. I’ve lived here all my life and no one enjoys a crab feast more than I do,” Johnson said. “But unless we do our part to protect them, that part of our summer tradition could be in jeopardy.”
7 comments:
Having worked for DNR , this government agency has become somewhat of a joke.
The main problem is we need to protect and serve.(protect the resources and serve the public)
The deer poaching is way beyond control , they don't care.
It starts at the top , these guys don't have a clue , they have been Obamarized by O'Malley and Brown.
Another law agency gone bad.
Wasting time , catch the Virginia illegals , dredging for sponge crabs , 1,000,000 babies a crab.
Wake up you stupid bastards.
Poachers will be very surprised to see robotic crab undercover surveillance units looking up at them from their nets and pots as they radio for officer response.
The "crabs" can also detect "the strong scent of burning marijuana" and actually capture a sample of the air, with video. If held within 3 feet of a nose or mouth, they can capture, evaluate and record, with video, the breather's blood alcohol level.
The times are changing, people!
As a former chicken necker of many years, there's no regulation outside of keeping chicken neckers from catching that crab for free. If you have a clue on how crap pots work, you will understand why restricting hours or days to harvest is one more liberal joke. The pot traps 24 hrs a day so waiting a few hours or day to HARVEST the crabs already caught is meaningless.
Re-Elect NOBODY!
lol, you're to funny 5:26! you been watching to much csi!
Or drinking too much RWL.
The NR Police are a joke. They are focusing on catching a family out to catch a few crabs instead of the commercial fisherman doing it to make a killing and then depleting the population.
The NRP should be out policing the streets and fighting real crime.
As a matter of fact all Maryland police agencies, ALL, such as NRP, the Maryland Transit Authority, the Maryland Park Police, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Maryland Transportation Authority and any I have missed should fall under one agency. They should fall under the Maryland State Police and they all should be fighting crime under one leader. Can you imagine how much would be saved by illuminating all the top directors or secretaries of each agency. There are to many chiefs at the top and millions could be saved if there was only one top dog and the rest put on the street fighting crime. MSP Wild Live Division. MSP Fire Marshal's Division. MSP Park Rangers. Why would the Transportation Administration and Transit Authority be any different than the Maryland State Police? Why should we be paying for different agencies. At one time the State Police were at BWI Airport and some intelligent politician decided to make more government. The Department of Corrections should even fall under the Maryland State Police. This way all officers could transfer to the different agencies if they wanted to.
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