Support The Southern Maryland Chronicle, Support SoMD A 2021 VIMS study estimated they were consuming a couple of million little crabs yearly in one stretch of the lower James River. But nonnative blue catfish, which have proliferated throughout the Bay since being introduced in Virginia years ago, is a newer and potentially bigger threat. Striped bass and red drum are known to feed on juvenile crabs. They also plan to evaluate whether environmental conditions may have changed, including predation by other fish. Experts also plan to analyze the data using one or more mathematical models that might be more sensitive to the stages of crab maturation or variable conditions in different parts of the Bay or in different seasons. This one will revisit all the assumptions about crabs that went into the earlier assessment and incorporate the results of other surveys besides the winter dredge. Last year’s results were concerning enough that scientists and fishery managers in Maryland and Virginia agreed it was time to perform another comprehensive stock assessment of the Bay’s crab population. While the survey’s estimate of juvenile crabs is based on more limited data than other population segments, scientists and managers note there’s only been one year where its results failed to track with the harvest. That might mean limiting the spring catch rather than an overall harvest reduction. Whatever the outcome of this winter’s survey, Virginia’s fishery managers must ensure that more spawning females can reproduce before being caught. Virginia’s watermen landed about 15.3 million pounds of crabs in 2022, which is 8% below the 16.6 million pounds harvested in 2021. That’s on par with Maryland’s 2021 harvest from Bay waters. The preliminary figures from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources show that Maryland’s watermen landed about 22.7 million pounds of crab last year, with all but about 1 million pounds coming from Chesapeake waters. Despite the added catch restrictions, the 2022 commercial harvest didn’t take that big of a hit. And I think that the information that comes out of it is valuable to the managers.”įishery managers in both states responded to the sub-par 2022 survey results by tightening harvest rules through the second half of the season that had already begun. “I’ve put a lot of pride and time into making it consistent, and the people I work with are good people. “The wintertime gives us that chance to really get a quick snapshot on year-to-year changes up or down in the population,” said Michael Seebo, a senior marine scientist at VIMS, who’s been involved with the survey almost since its beginning. The outcome could ease-or deepen-worries about the stability of the fishery. The results of this winter’s survey likely won’t be known until May, after the field sampling is finished and the numbers are crunched. The survey is messy and repetitive, but each crab discovered amid the detritus is measured, its sex determined, and its particulars recorded for later analysis.
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