Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990                   TAG: 9006180275
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

CRAB CROP PROMISING, BUYERS SAY

Pappy Bullock, who has crabbed the Potomac River for 31 years, said he sees signs of a good harvest.

"I put my pots out for the first time Sunday, and I saw a lot of little crabs," he said last week. "We can't take the undersized ones, so that means we're going to have some fat crabs in July or August . . . unless we get rain. A lot of rain will mess up the crabs."

"It looks like it's going to be the best crab season in 10 years," said LeRoy Newton, manager of Barefoot Green Seafood Market. "The crabs have just finished shedding, and they will be fattened up by July 4."

Two years ago, blue crabs were slow in developing in the Potomac. The result was record high prices.

In 1988, a bushel of large cooked crabs sold for $90 over the Fourth of July weekend. This week, a bushel could be had for as little as $50.

Newton is getting $69 a bushel for large crabs. "By the first of the month they should be down to about $45," he said.

- Associated Press