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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1995                   TAG: 9510250088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short

PANEL HEARS DISMAL REPORT ON BLUE CRABS

The Chesapeake Bay blue crab population has declined to a dangerously low level, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission was warned Tuesday.

But the commission took no action on a report by Roy Insley, chief of crab management for the commission, and referred it instead to a subcommittee for further investigation, VMRC spokesman Wilford Kale said.

This year's expected harvest of 25 million pounds is the worst in 36 years - and only half the size of the 1993 catch. The bay, historically the world's top producer of blue crabs, slipped to second place in 1993 behind the Gulf of Mexico.

The commission's blue crab subcommittee will consider a study of this year's harvest in early November. That group then will report to the full commission, which will make a presentation in December to a special General Assembly committee.

Kale said the harvest report is not the same thing as a population report, which might mean the number of young crabs might be on the rise even though harvests are down. A population report is under way, he said.

by CNB