A Virginia Marine Resources Commission committee has recommended that the state agency not open a crab dredge fishery this winter in Virginia waters.
At its Aug. 20 meeting, the Crab Management Advisory Committee voted by 8-5 (with two members absent) to make that recommendation to VMRC commissioners. The meeting was recorded and is available for viewing at youtube.com/watch?v=vjnMlolJ3Ec.
The committee had been tasked with coming up with regulatory measures such as quotas, the number of licenses, who would be eligible, and what gear restrictions might be imposed in order to implement a crab dredge season should the commission decide to have one this winter.
Instead, faced with the idea that a dredge season could require equivalency reductions in crab potting in order to maintain the integrity of the multi-state agreement that saw closure of the crab dredge fishery in 2008, the committee focused on encouraging a longer crab pot fishery that would begin on March 1 and go through Dec. 31. Members decided to wait until after a long-anticipated blue crab stock assessment that is due for a final report in 2026 to revisit options for reopening a dredge season.
Subsequent to the meeting, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s executive director Chris Moore said in a press release that there is a lot of concern about the impact a crab dredge season could have both on the blue crab population and on other segments of the crab industry.
“The committee’s discussions and recommendation make clear that Virginia should not consider reopening the winter dredge fishery until the stock assessment can give us more answers on the appropriate path forward for managing the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic blue crab,” he said.
In June, VMRC commissioners decided to repeal the closure of the crab dredge season on a narrow 5-4 vote. The decision was made in spite of the fact that the commission’s staff had recommended against reinstituting crab dredging. The recommendation was based on assessments showing a 14 percent decline in the female blue crab population, from 152 million to 133 million, and the fact that approximately 90 percent of the crabs that are harvested by dredging are females.
Bruce Vogt, chair of the Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team of the Chesapeake Bay Program, said in a letter to VMRC’s chief of Fisheries Management Pat Geer that VMRC should “maintain the status quo” or enact conservation equivalency measures to offset any new harvest from a dredge fishery.
Vogt pointed out that the governors of Maryland and Virginia agreed in 2008 to jointly reduce adult female crab harvest by 34 percent, and that Virginia’s plan for the reduction included elimination of the crab dredge fishery to achieve 17 percent of that reduction. He said “adult female specific reference points” had subsequently been established that had been adhered to by Maryland, Virginia, and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, and that this had led to a sustainable fishery.
In closing his letter, Vogt said, “The key to sound management is to continue coordination across jurisdictions to ensure state specific management goals are consistent with maintaining a sustainable Chesapeake Bay wide blue crab resource.”
In a press release after the VMRC’s June decision, Moore said, “The best available science calls for continuing a precautionary approach for female blue crabs, not an increase in harvest during the winter months. Virginia needs to maintain a precautionary approach for the sake of all crabbers and the health of the Chesapeake Bay, not take an avoidable risk with a vital species.”
The public will have two opportunities to provide in-person comment to the commission on the matter, at the Tuesday, Sept. 24 and Monday, Oct. 28 meetings, which will be held at 380 Fenwick Road, Fort Monroe.
Comments may also be made online beginning two weeks prior to each meeting, either at https://webapps.mrc.virginia.gov/public/fisheries/comments/index.php or at https://townhall.virginia.gov/index.cfm.
For more information, call the VMRC Fisheries Management Division at 757-247-2200.