THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280564
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By SARAH MISKIN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Succulent blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay may become a delicacy for the wealthy only under new restrictions imposed this week to protect the diminishing numbers of the crustacean.
At $7 to $14 a dozen, crab prices are already about $2 higher this year than previous years. Crabbers and seafood suppliers expect the prices to hold or increase as the crab harvest drops due to scarcity and the new regulations.
Restrictions imposed by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission this week include a nine-month crabbing season, from April 1 to Nov. 30, and a limit on the number of crab traps, or pots, that can be set from each crabber's boat.
Regulators hope that requiring more escape hatches, called cull rings, in crab pots will help prevent the killing of young, undersized crabs, as will crab sanctuaries in some areas of the Bay.
The chief of fisheries for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Jack Travelstead, said crab prices would probably rise to offset the results of the new regulations on watermen.
The crab harvest for 1992 had fallen to 23.3 million pounds, the lowest poundage figure since 1959, Travelstead said. The value of the harvest was $9 million or about 39 cents a pound.
Although the figure had rebounded in 1993, it was down again this year, which had caused concern. Blue crabs responded quickly to management practices and greater numbers were expected within two years, Travelstead said.
``The long-term goal is to prevent this rather steep decline in the harvest and allow for a much larger harvest in the future. The long-term outlook is for more crabs to be harvested and, therefore, a lower price for consumers.''
Crabbers seem to agree that the restrictions will reduce the crab harvest, but are split on whether the new rules will have the desired effect.
Several Poquoson crabbers said the single cull ring implemented this year already had cut harvests by a third. A second ring, they said, ``is going to hurt us.''
``I'm losing about a barrel and a half a day because the ring is letting them out. These are legal crabs, not illegal ones. A barrel is about $60 to $70 worth,'' crabber Nelson Frith said.
He argues that the second ring would put some of the smaller crabbers out of business. ``The cull rings will let most of the crabs out and they will have to put more pots out to make up the difference.''
Another Poquoson crabber, Ernest Ferguson, said the second ring would not make a difference because any crabs that wanted to escape would do it through just one broken bar. He argues that the new regulations aren't strict enough.
``Many smaller crabs don't get out any way because as long as there is bait in the pot, they will stay,'' Ferguson said. ``Right now the blue crab situation is at a point where, unless they do something drastic, Mother Nature will take care of it.''
Jim Etheridge, who works the Lafayette and Elizabeth rivers, has many of the same concerns.
The crab-products purchaser for Sam Rust Seafood Inc., Leonard Schmidt, said consumers would probably pay more for crabs in the short term because of the new regulations. The reason: There will be fewer of them.
``It definitely will affect the price, it will affect the crabber and it will affect those buying the crabs. But in the long run it will help the crabs and everyone in general.''
The owner of Leggett's Seafood Inc, John Leggett, said the price this year was 50 percent to 75 percent higher than last year and would stay high. Those prices helped crabbers like Ferguson and Etheridge earn nearly as much this year as last.
``If the consumer wants it bad enough, they will be able to buy it, but the price will be higher,'' Leggett said. ILLUSTRATION: A blue harvest for crabbers
TAMARA VONINSKI/Staff
Doug Valade collected 30 pounds of crabs Wednesday afternoon from 70
crab pots off Poquoson. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission
this week imposed new regulations to protect diminishing numbers of
blue crabs.
[Drawing of crab]
by CNB