Recreational Crabbing License Legislation Proposed in Maryland General Assembly

As part of a multi-level effort to address the decline of the blue crab population, legislation to license recreational crabbing has been proposed in this year’s Maryland General Assembly. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation supports the legislation and believes the licenses will help provide important information to fishery managers.

Senate Bill 514, sponsored by Senator Brian Frosh (D-District 16 – Montgomery County) and House Bill 772, sponsored by Delegate John Wood (D-District 29 – Calvert and St. Mary’s counties) would create a recreational crabbing license to help measure the number of recreational crabbers and their catch amounts. Funds generated by the license--which would cost $5 for Maryland residents (or $2 when purchased with a Chesapeake Bay Sports Fishing license) and $10 for non-resident anglers--will go directly into management of the crab fishery. Everyone age 16 years or older will need a license to crab and private dock owners would need to display their license number on their dock to set out crab pots.

Hearings to discuss the proposed legislation are scheduled for Tuesday, February 27 at 1 p.m. in the Senate and Thursday, March 1, in the House. Public hearings are also being held this week concerning new regulations for commercial crabbing. Commercial changes include a uniform mandatory day off (either Sunday or Monday) and an eight-hour-workday restriction, as well as restrictions on bait and reporting requirements.

Why do we need to license recreational crabbers?

It is no secret that the numbers of blue crabs in the Bay have declined dramatically in recent years, and everyone from watermen to chicken-neckers has felt the effect. For the past two years the Bi-State Blue Crab Advisory Committee (BBCAC), composed of commercial crabbers, recreational crabbers, crab processors, conservationists, legislators and resource managers, has focused on the issues facing our crab fishery and has developed a strategy for sustaining it.

The BBCAC plan establishes for the first time ever, science-based targets and thresholds to guide the management of the crab fishery. To achieve the targets, the BBCAC has recommended cutbacks in crabbing effort for both commercial and recreational crabbers, as well as attention over the long term to habitat issues of importance to blue crabs. The vision for the future is of a more abundant and stable crab resource that will be able to provide both recreation for citizens and livelihoods for watermen.

Legislation now before the Maryland General Assembly addresses the need to better manage the recreational side of the crab fishery. The centerpiece of the legislation is a proposed recreational crabbing license designed to give fishery managers good information about how many people crab and how much they catch crabs recreationally. This fundamental information is currently unavailable, hampering our ability to manage the fishery effectively.

Licensing all recreational crabbers, including the previous holders of the non-commercial license, the previously unlicensed crabbers, and future crabbers, will provide the recreational sector an increased stake in the crab fishery and will empower their voice in the management of that fishery. This will be a benefit to the recreational sector as well as supplying the necessary data to manage the crab fishery for everyone.

Some have rightly called blue crabs the last great Chesapeake Bay fishery. The history of many fisheries in the Bay shows a classic boom-and-bust pattern beginning with the most valuable fishery during colonial times, the sturgeon, followed by the shad, and then the great oyster resources of the late 19th century, which exist today at only a fraction of historic levels. The rockfish, fished to the brink of collapse, was only brought back by applying a nearly six-year moratorium, the least-desired instrument of fisheries management. The blue crab may be our last opportunity to get it right.

All of these failures to responsibly steward valuable Bay resources were the result of waiting for “hard proof.” While acknowledging there is more to learn about the crab’s life history and behavior, the nation’s foremost fisheries scientists have been able to reach consensus on a number of key recommendations. One of these recommendations is an agreement that the total catch must be reduced by 15 percent over the next three years to enhance annual crab spawning potential and to sustain a healthy blue crab population in the Bay. We now have a chance to take action to avoid a crisis.

Fundamental to the BBCAC work is the recognition that all jurisdictions must work together to craft an effective solution. Virginia and Maryland have often had difficulty achieving such a cooperative working relationship. The same can be said of the commercial and recreational sectors of the fishery. While no crabber wants to be restricted more than the next, all have shown a willingness to do their part. The resulting plan for managing the crab fishery is no less than historic.

At public hearings throughout Maryland last fall, sportfishing organizations spoke in favor of the recreational crabbing license. Their support, and the widespread public support voiced at the hearings, is based upon an understanding that the stakes are high for all of us, whether we depend on the Bay for our livelihood or for the many other pleasures it offers. A license to crab is a small price to pay, and the information gained from the license is invaluable.


Posted: 3-8-2001