THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Faced with mounting criticism from environmentalists and opinion polls, the Virginia seafood industry will present its own plan today for protecting the Chesapeake Bay blue crab.
Crafted by a small group of merchants and watermen, the plan includes new size and seasonal limits for catching crabs, and the creation of a large no-harvest zone in the middle Bay, according to an advance copy released Monday.
However, several officials and experts said the plan - which will be formally presented this afternoon to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission - lacks sufficient strength to stem what scientists believe is a serious decline in the Bay's most renowned natural resource.
``Some of these things we've been over before,'' said Timothy G. Hayes, a Richmond lawyer and chairman of the state Blue Crab Advisory Subcommittee. ``I didn't see what I had hoped to see.''
Also today, the commission will hear recommendations from scientists and staff experts before voting on a path Virginia should take in helping preserve the prized crab.
A symbol of the Bay and its once-bountiful waters, the crab contributes more than $87 million a year to the state's economy and provides thousands of jobs, including those of more than 3,000 licensed watermen.
Virginia has been under intense pressure from environmental groups and watermen in Maryland to respond to surveys and statistics that show the crab population sliding toward a crisis.
For example, the 1995 hard crab harvest, which ends this week, is expected to be about 25 million pounds - or about half of what was reported two years ago and the lowest total in 36 years.
Maryland cut short its fall season this year after scientists warned that too many female crabs were being caught in the upper Bay. More time limits are expected next year as well.
But, so far, Gov. George Allen's administration has said it will not endorse any new restrictions until all scientific data is completed. Allen has stood firm despite a publicized letter-writing campaign by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and a personal appeal for action by foundation president William C. Baker.
Throughout the debate, Virginia watermen and crab merchants have quietly stood on the sidelines, almost in disbelief. To many, the population slide is nothing more than another natural down-cycle that will correct itself. Others believe there is no decline at all, only half-truth surveys from grant-hungry biologists.
``We're being dictated to by a bunch of people who don't know anything about crabs or the water,'' said Norfolk crabber Ernie Abbott, who helped draft the seafood industry plan.
Recognizing that they had better come up with their own ideas, or face even tougher limits pushed by environmentalists, Abbott and eight other industry representatives met privately in Newport News before Thanksgiving, he said.
Several members wanted to do nothing, Abbott said, arguing that Virginia just approved a detailed crab-protection package last year and that they were sick of new laws.
But led by group chairman John B. Graham, president of Graham & Rollins Inc., a Hampton seafood company, they agreed to adopt a five-point plan.
The plan would:
Cut two weeks off the end of the winter dredge season, which runs from Dec. 1 to March 15. During this time, watermen scrape females from sleeping holes on the bottom of the lower Bay. Dredging has been criticized for years for its destruction of the breeding stock.
Limit to 45 bushels a day the number of pregnant females, or sponge crabs, that could be harvested, and for the first time set a size limit of 3 1/2-inches on soft-shelled crabs.
Set a season for catching peeler and soft crabs, from April 1 to Sept. 30, and not allow these specialty crabs to be harvested on Sundays after June 15. ILLUSTRATION: Color drawing of crab
by CNB