Va. advisory panel suggests reforms to help restore blue crab
By The Associated Press Friday, February 15, 2008 NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - A state advisory panel has endorsed a slate of reforms on how and when Virginians can harvest blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers and creeks, but some question whether the changes will help restore the seafood species.
“A lot of what we’re proposing may not be worth the paper they’re written on,” said Pete Nixon, a Norfolk crabber and president of the Lower Chesapeake Bay Watermen’s Association.
The Blue Crab Advisory Committee agreed on the recommendations after five hours of debate that ended shortly before midnight Tuesday.
The meeting was the first step in a long process toward adopting a new way of managing crabs in Virginia and Maryland. Both states are wrestling with record-low harvests and failing strategies to reverse the trends.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will consider, and perhaps vote on, the package at its meeting Feb. 26 in Newport News.
The recommendations include:
— Cutting the number of crab traps and pots allowed in the bay by 10 percent to 30 percent, beginning this year;
— Extending no-harvest sanctuaries by two weeks each spring to protect adult females swimming toward spawning grounds in southeast Virginia;
— Requiring an extra escape hole, or cull ring, in crab pots statewide, to allow smaller, developing crabs to continue living and breeding;
— Cracking down on the practice of “agents” and “permit stacking,” in which watermen loan their crabbing licenses to family, friends or hired workers, who then collect and sell crabs and share the profits.
Drawing on the conclusions of a scientific panel that spent the past year studying the problem, Virginia fisheries director Jack Travelstead said restoring crab populations must touch three pillars: controlling the number of people in the fishery, the number of pots in the water and the amount of time spent fishing.
“The concern is that if we don’t take additional measures, we could drop below the thresholds from which we cannot guarantee a recovery,” Travelstead said.
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