Evening journal., 1912-08-28
CRAB INDUSTRY
IS ON THE WANE

BALTIMORE. Md, Aug 2S.-If
protective measures are not adopted
and enforced the hard and soft sholl
crab, which has been abundant in the
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries,
will meet the fate which has over
taken the terrapin, which awaits
canvasback ducks, and which at
times has threatened the oyster.
This declaration was made yester-
day by Swepson Earle, typographical
engineer Of the Shelldsh Commission,
who has made a study of the grabbing
industry, and who was delegated by
the late governor Crothers TO suggest
remedial legislation. A bill was pre-
pared meeting Mr.. Earle's views, and
was submitted to the last legislature.
but it got tangled up with the oppos-
ing oyster bills, aud never emerged
from the pigeonholt OF the Committee
on Chesapeake Bay and Tributaries.
THE best evidence of the scarcity of
| crabs Is afforded by prices at Crisf1eld,
the main shipping point" continued
Mr.. Earle. Prices for soft shell crabs
have been as high as 81 20 a dozen
at Crisheld during the season, though
there was a decline during the last
few days. Only few years ago soft
shell. crabs at Crisfeld sold as low as
25 and so cents dozen. In the waters
! of Anne krundel county only a few
/ years ago a man could easily catch
/ four barrels of hard crabs in one day.
/ He is fortunate now il he can catch
one barrel in one day. The time is
coming when we must concentrate our
efforts and cooperate with Virginia In
pi 1tecting crabs.
Important Sea Foods.
The crab. although always looked
upon as water scavenger, has de-
veloped into one of the most important
Of our sea foods. This industry has
made the rost remarkable develop
ment in Maryland. Winthrop A. Rob
erts. in his report to the United States
Bureau of Fisheries on the Maryland
crab industry, in 1901, states: 1T
was in 1888 that the first shipments Of
crabs we're made from Crisfleld
These were consigned TO the firm Of
John Martin, in Philadelphia, and were
shipped on commission.
Within the last decade the Industry
has developed rapidly in Kent, Queen
Anne, Talbot. Dorchester, Somerset
and Anne Arundel counties. While
Somerset aud Dorchester are more
largely engaged in taking the soft
she'll crabs with scrapes (similar to
the oyster dredges) the other counties
by using the trot line ana gasoline
boats. have developed the taking or
the hard crabs, established picking
houses and employing hundreds or
people. The now mucn-in-demand
al 4 sfaHl.f 80
throughout the United States. II Is not
uncommon to see ten carloads of crabs
being shipped from Crisfeld in sim
gle day
Crisfield as a shipping point (the
most extensive in the world FOR crabs)
shipped in 1870 estimated, 40, 600, 900
soft crabs.
1t Is believed by most waJermen that
the crab. like the diamondback terra
pin, which was once so numerous in
this state that the slaves objected 70
being fed on them more often than
once week, Is beyond determination.
A study of the crab, its habits and
the increasing demand, will convince
that it, too, can be destroyed.
How to Maintain Industry.
The blue crab is not an ocean crab
but inhabits the inland waters, Chesa-
peake Bay. its tributaries and the
sounds. The female crab. so our best
authority informs us, spawns but once
in the course of her existence, and
this takes place when she has reached
certain development Wstermen
have no difficulty in distinguishing the
male from the female. The male has
a ct" shaped apron while the apron
of the female is oval. The female is
capable of producing 100000 yourg,
and these little ones hang on their
mother until she thinks it time for
them to shift for themselves, when
she rubs them OFF on the sand. The
crab at this stage is known as the
sponge bearer. The General Assem-
bly, of Virginia during its last session
passed a law to protect the female az
this stage of propagation.
J That the crab industry viii be de-
stroyed will appeal to any far-sighted
. Marylander when we take into consid-
Grafton that the demand now equals
the supply, and the reports from the
large crabhouse snote a decrease in the
supply. With an increase in the de-
mand, a decrease in the supply, an i'm
proved method in catching the erals
3 destroying the females promiscuously
1.-THE goose that lays the golden egg)
there can be but one conclusion: The
2 determination of the crab in our wat
ers.