![]() ![]() The following year, Virginia closed its winter dredging season (which has yet to reopen) and Maryland shortened its fall season. ![]() Pot tagging would help the states enforce these limits.”īiologists dredged at 1,500 sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay from December 2022 through March 2023 to evaluate crab populations at each of those sites for the dredging survey. To safeguard the species’ vulnerable procreators, spawning-age females, both states and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission agreed to reduce the female crab harvest by 34 percent. Although both states currently have limits on the number of pots watermen can set, these numbers are largely unenforceable, leading to numerous concerns about the amount of crabbing gear in the water. “States should also consider additional actions, including pot tagging, which assists in the enforcement of blue crab fishery regulations. “Due to continued low numbers of male crabs, both states should, at a minimum, maintain measures put in place last year that sought to protect male crabs,” Moore added. “Long-term recovery of the Bay’s blue crab population will only be possible through continued wise management of the fishery, combined with actions to improve water quality and address predation from invasive species in the Bay.” ![]() “The recent decline in the Bay’s underwater grasses is likely contributing to low blue crab numbers, as well as pollution and predation by invasive blue catfish,” he said. ![]()
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