Maryland and Virginia have agreed to try to reduce the crab catch because of worries over the future of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab. Mary's, told the committee. We do know this. Something has to be done. Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, said the blue crab population is clearly declining in the bay.
Average size is down.
Swanson said the female spawning stock has been seriously depleted, and watermen are having to work longer and harder to earn a living. That was perhaps the only area of agreement between regulators and the watermen who showed up for the meeting. Eddie Grimes, a Kent Island waterman for most of his 50 years, said he is working harder and spending more hours on the water than ever. Grimes said he does not think he could survive financially crabbing just eight hours a day. Opponents challenged studies that natural resources officials used to support their claim that the catch must be reduced by 15 percent each year for the next three years to rebuild a spawning population.