THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
For too many years, Chesapeake Bay crabbers and oystermen have treated their catch as limitless. Now, just as overfishing threatened the striped bass, overharvesting, disease and pollution have so ravished oysters and overharvesting has so decimated crabs that strict catch limits may be the only means to save them, just as a strict catch limit saved the striped bass.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission today will consider several bold measures to preserve the livelihood and rich heritage of Bay watermen. Predictably, some watermen will argue that declines in the oyster and crab catches are cyclical and that, scientific evidence aside, the species will recover.
That would be fine if time and hope would boost the oyster catch, which last year fell to 7,000 bushels, compared to 4 million bushels in the 1950s; or fatten the crab harvest, which this season shrank to its lowest level in several years.
The declines are related: As disease claimed the oyster stock, former tongers turned to year-round crabbing for a livelihood. Last year, 2,400 crabbing licenses were issued in Virginia, a 40 percent increase since 1980. And whereas crab pots per crabber averaged 200 a decade ago, 400 is the average today.
The VRMC today will consider:
Requiring that egg-bearing females be returned to the water from crab pots; marketing crabs ready to spawn other crabs when crabs are scarce is ruinous - and the practice should have stopped long ago.
Limiting the crab-potting season to April 1 through Nov. 30. The four-month break is a practical way to cut the harvest.
Establishing a committee to study limiting hard-crab licenses. Virginia already requires anyone without a commercial license to wait two years before getting one. A lottery might be a better way to distribute a limited number of licenses, or perhaps an auction, with licenses going to the highest bidders.
Closing all public oyster beds in the Bay except 2,000 acres along the James River.
Such a step is essential if the oyster harvest is to rebound. Although oystermen remain skeptical of scientists, they are expected to agree to the current proposal.
It's time to end the argument and get on with saving livelihoods. by CNB