This means there are enough females to produce a healthy batch of crabs next year. The number of spawning age females was still above the minimum threshold of 72.5 million for the eighth straight year. There were 158 million spawning age female crabs in 2021, but there are 97 million in 2022. There was also a drop in the number of females that are old enough to reproduce or spawn. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources released this year's 2022 Baywide Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey on Thursday. Maryland has tracked the crab count since 1990. "The results of this year's survey continue a worrying trend for blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay region," said Chris Moore, a senior regional ecosystem scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The all-time high of 852 million crabs came in 1993. That's down from the 282 million tallied last year. Officials estimated that the bay now has 227 million crabs. The number of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs fell this year to the lowest level ever recorded in the 33 years of data. Blue Crab Count Falls to Lowest Total Ever Recorded in Chesapeake Bay By Jacob Baumgart “Despite meeting these management objectives, adult blue crab abundance has steadily declined.” “The Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions have maintained harvest of blue crabs at safe levels set forth in the last benchmark stock assessment since 2008,” the Department of Natural Resources said. More information on the latest laws is available here. Recreational crabbers cannot sell or possess any hard female crab, egg-bearing crab known as a sponge or female peeler crab that’s about to molt its shell. Officials said crabbers are largely following all the current regulations.Ĭommercial crabbers are allowed to catch up to five mature female hard crabs per bushel of male crabs or 13 mature female hard crabs per barrel of male crabs. The Department of Natural Resources will then work with the Blue Crab Industry Advisory Committee to give guidance on how to sustain the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population. The group will offer its scientific advice for management during its May meeting. With crab levels declining, the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee will host a workshop to explore potential ways to increase the number of juveniles that become adults.
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