Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-28
SHORTAGE PER|LS
!. CRAB INDUSTRY
Plants Idle as States Sci
entists Seek to Increase
Supply.
BY GEORGE PORTER

efQ MhI ylA4iu . AuAaSu
most to q standstill, while the pest
scientific brains Of the State are at
work on the problem of increasing
the supply.
New Deal brain tristers, weary with
schemes for blowing under wheat,
slsughtering hogs and otherwise re-
ducine surpluses, would flnd delight
IN turning to the crab crop" OF the
Chesapeake Bay this season.
For instead of the up-to-date prob
lem of keeping the supply down TO
the demand. Chesapeake craooers are
faced with the old-fashioned task OF
making two crabs grow where one
grew before. No crsbber will be In
line for benefit payments for me
number Of crabs he threw back In the
bay.
While most of the crabbers are
turning to other forms OF livelihood
and all of the packing plants at
Solomons Island are standing idle.
University of Maryland scientists. con-
fident that, through the cooperation
Of lawmakers and conservation au-
thorities, the supply can quickly be
replenished. are conducting expert
ments which promise to bring q great
er measure of prosperity to the crab
hers than they have ever known be-
fore.
Supervising Experiments.
Prof. r. ". Truitt of the university,
who. as director of the Chesapeake
Biological Laboratory at Solomons
Island, spends his Summers living
among the crabbers. is supervising the
experiments.
Their purpose is to determine the
food value of crabs. Oddly enough,
this has never been definitely known,
according to DR.. Truitt. Through the
use of a colony of rats, and In CO.
operation with the Bureau OF Fish
cries laboratory at College Park, 1t
already has been established that
crabs are rich in vitamin "a" the
one that controls the condition OF
the skin, eyes and hair, he says.
II it also can be shown that there
Is enough iodine, copper and iron in
crabs to produce a marked effect on
persons who eat them, crabs can be
advertised as having those essential
food elements and may soon become
much more widely used than ever De-
fore.
physicians tell us there are a.
O00, 900 people, many Of them chill
dren, who get that tired feeling cas-
ily. and need more iodine, copper and
iron in their diet. Possibly we can
prove that what they need is few
crabs once or twice q week." Dr..
Truitt says.
While the scientists in the labora-
tories at College Park are experiment.
ing with crabs on rats, DR.. Truitt, on
the shores and waters Of the Chesa-
peske and its tributaries, is collecting
data to be used as the basis Of recon-
mendations for the conservation and
increase of the crab supply.
Handsome Laboratory.
Some feel that the brick biological
laboratory, largest and handsomest
building on Solomons Island, may be
looked upon as a monument to the
failure of science If, for very many
months, three crab packing plants,
almost within its shadow, that nor
mally employ more than 100 people,
have to remain closed.
While the effect of the crab short
age is only too apparent in idleness
here. part-time work in the packing
plants at Crisfield, on the Eastern
Shore. the crab center of the world,
and higher crab prices in the cities,
DR.. Truitt believes he knows both the
cause and the cure of the condition.
They involve cooperation between
Che crabbers themselves and the leg
islators Of Maryland and Virginia, he
says.
The causes he lists as over Grabbing.
due to too-long seasons; capture OF
sponge crabs at the Virginia capes,
too small a size limit, and use OF
crabs to "chum" other crabs. Most
of those things are not very bad in
themselves, he says, but combined
they have produced a condition that,
in the opinion Of some Chesapeake
Bay crabbers, threatens their in
dustry.
Today at Solomons Island only
about 80 men are earning their living
at grabbing, an occupation which
normally attracts $50. Fortunately
for that town, which presents pros
porous and attractive appearance to
visitors, the crabbers can turn to
conducting fishing parties, made up
principally of Washingtonians.
One Barrel to Five Before.
Those who are still casting their
trot lines and catching what crabs
are available, say they get only one
barrel now to five barrels in previous
years. Because all local packing
plants are closed, they sell to buy
boats" from the Eastern Shore and
receive or 31a cents pound Tor
the crabs, which partially compen-
sates for the small supply, as the
usual price has been i cent pound.
The decline in the crab supply, no
ticeable for several years, but reaching
an acute stage this year, has pre-
scented the Chesapeake Biological
Laboratory with its most important
problem of this season.
AS o barometer of the extent OF the
shrinkage of the crab corp" the
MARYLAND Conservation Commission
reports that in 1884 only 619,216 bar
rels of soft crabs and "peelers" were
brought to Crisfleld as compared to
1.416,861 in 1888. The hard shells
brought to that crab center totaled
2,130 barrels last year, while the 1888
"production" of hard shells was 6,701
barrels.
AS the first step in restoring the
supply. DR.. Truitt believes Maryland
and Virginia should cooperate te
shorten the season. Maryland now
permits the catching Of crabs from
MAY to November. Virginia allows
them to be caught the year round.
During the Winter dredging, I'M
lawful In Maryland, Is permitted IL
virginia. Likewise, the catching Of
Hponre crabs-thoSe that have
gathered to spawn-is legal in Vir-
Qinia, but not in Maryland.