THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508220010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Another View
SOURCE: By WILLIAM J. GOLDSBOROUGH
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Increasingly, as oysters decline in the Chesapeake Bay, its watermen are losing a staple of their traditional fishing income. So nowadays they must depend on one species, crabs, for the bulk of their earnings.
This is a dangerous proposition, since even the hardy blue crab has its limits. Losing the crab would mean that its watermen would have little alternative but to leave the water.
The blue crab is the last great Chesapeake Bay fishery. It is currently the most valuable fishery in the Bay, worth more than $186 million annually.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has written the natural-resource secretaries of Maryland and Virginia that this mainstay of the Bay region's seafood economy, symbol of its natural economy, symbol of its natural-resource productivity, is perilously close to collapse. We have urged both states to take immediate, coordinated action to save the blue-crab fishery.
While longer-term strategies to manage the fishery are being developed, we believe existing data are sufficient to compel the prudent manager to take interim action and maintain sufficient spawning stock. Several data sources indicate a substantial decline in numbers of mature females during the past five years.
The widely fluctuating catches of crabs in the past few years, with a record low in 1992, are classic signs of a population being overfished. In this unstable situation, there could be a rebound of the population, but it will be short-lived unless crabbing pressure is reduced. And with an unstable population comes an unstable product and unstable livelihoods for watermen.
While some have suggested we need not act until a collapse, we believe it is the responsibility of fisheries managers to avoid a collapse and prevent all the social and economic repercussions that would accompany one.
The need for immediate action is due to the crab's life cycle and recent trends in the fishery. Beginning in September potential spawners are heavily harvested by pots in Maryland and Virginia until December when they become prey to the winter dredge fishery in Virginia followed by a spring pot fishery.
These fisheries have expanded tremendously since 1980: Potters are using more pots, working later into the fall and starting earlier in the spring; dredging licenses have approximately tripled during the period; and data from the past two years show a substantial increase in the catch of mature female crabs by pots in September and October.
Next year's spawners will soon become subjected to this expanded pressure, and therefore we are forced to call for immediate action.
Specifically, we have proposed that both Maryland and Virginia prohibit all harvest of blue crabs in all Bay waters deeper than 40 feet. This zone of protection or sanctuary for the migrating and overwintering crabs would be located in a band down the center of the Bay and would close about a quarter of the Bay's tidal waters, leaving open other areas for harvesting. The depth of the zone can be adjusted to achieve the best balance between the needs of the crabbers and the needs of the crab.
In addition to providing important interim protection for the Bay's mature female crabs, a deep-water sanctuary can be an effective, long-term tool for managing the species. Ongoing research and analyses can help develop complementary measures to complete a comprehensive strategy.
To be effective, this plan must begin by early fall. It is the fairest way to quickly address the need to conserve mature female crabs. If implemented by both states, this proposal would distribute the burden equitably among the various watermen who catch these crabs and between the states.
The initial response from Maryland to the proposal has been very encouraging. We look forward to working with the commonwealth on this initiative. To rescue the species we need a truly coordinated approach by both states. Time and tide are running against the blue crab as each day passes. MEMO: Mr. Goldsborough is a fisheries scientist with the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation.
by CNB