Posted on September 9, 2024
According to an article in the Bay Journal Magazine by Jeremy Cox:
“The effort to allow watermen to havest blue crabs during the winter in Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay may be losing steam.
“After more than two hours of debate, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission’s Crab Management Advisory Committee recommended changing course on Aug. 20 from an earlier move to reopen the winter dredge fishery. The board voted 8-5 to urge the VMRC to keep it closed until an ongoing species stock assessment is completed in March 2026.
“Dredging involves dragging a metal, rake-like apparatus behind a boat to collect crabs from the mud. The practice, conducted in the winter when crabs tend to be half-buried in the bottom mud, has been banned in Virginia since 2008. That move was taken in response to the Bay’s crab population being declared a federal disaster.
“Public comments will be accepted beginning Sept. 24 about whether to keep the winter dredge season open. The VMRC is expected to vote on the crab measure at its Oct. 28 meeting.
“The advisory committee’s decision represents a reversal of the position it took at its May gathering. At that time, the committee, which mostly consists of watermen, voted 10-2 to lift the 16-year prohibition on winter dredging. The VMRC voted 5-4 on June 25 to do just that, tasking the crab committee with suggesting rules for the new fishery.”
The Eastern Shore’s Jeanette Edwards and Patrick Hand both voted against reopening winter dredging.
“The move set off criticism from conservationists and officials in Maryland who manage that state’s crab population. They said it threatened to undo years of cooperative management and warned that it could imperil the species.
“Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission pledged in 2008 to reduce the harvest of female crabs by 34%. In Virginia, one of the primary avenues toward reaching that goal was to prohibit watermen from dredging crabs in the winter, when migrating females typically account for 90% of the catch.
“To maintain the 34% reduction while reopening the winter season, state scientists said managers would have to make cuts to the crab pot fishery. That fishery, which uses baited cages to trap crabs, represents about 97% of the state’s annual harvest.
“The advisory committee’s shift came after crab pot proponents made a case that more watermen would benefit from extending the pot season than reopening the dredge fishery. As part of its vote to postpone the winter dredge reopening, the advisory committee also suggested pushing back the annual closing date of the pot season from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31 this year and maintaining the extension in 2025.
The crab pot season opens each year in March.”
