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Friday, May 02, 2014

Drop in Female Crabs in the Chesapeake Bay

The number of spawning-age female blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has dropped significantly, prompting marine officials in the Virginia and Maryland area to focus on protecting and building up the population.

According to an annual winter dredge survey by marine officials released Thursday, the number of spawning-age female crabs dropped below the minimum safe level of 70 million and are in a depleted state. While the number of juvenile crabs increased and last year's harvest remained at a safe level for the sixth consecutive year, officials say the total number of crabs remains comparatively low at about 297 million.

"This is disappointing news," Virginia Marine Resources Commissioner John Bull said in a news release. "We are now faced with two challenges: Conserving adult females ... and conserving this new generation of crabs in order to increase their chances of reproducing in even larger numbers next year."
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I'm not mistaken , Virginia is allowed to dredge for females and have ruined the sponges that they hold , millions of egg mass.
Another political game with the Natural Resource.

Anonymous said...

This report is pure hogwash. Female crabs are fertilized in the upper Bay then they move to the lower Bay where the fertilized eggs become attached to the underbody of the female. It looks like and is called the sponge. They are very easy to recognize. Catch a "sponge crab" and you are basically preventing the female from hatching her eggs. Virginia has historically harvested these because that is basically what is plentifull in their part of the Bay. Reading this report and you don't even see "sponge" mentioned but money and politics rules.

Anonymous said...

fat boys was selling them by the half bushel last week.

Anonymous said...

Catching the sponges and rock-fish eating the little crabs!