Blue Crabs Decline In Chesapeake Bay, Health Earns D+ Grade: Report

MARYLAND — Pollution continues to harm the waters of Chesapeake Bay, which again received a D+ health grade in 2022 from a key group. While the oyster count is improving, blue crabs are declining.

The biennial State of the Bay report shows there is still a long way to go to create a watershed
that works for everyone, said the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

In 2022, the State of the Bay score remained unchanged at 32, a D+. Of the 13 indicators assessed, three improved and three declined. A big gain for oysters was tempered by a worrying drop for blue crabs, while pollution and habitat indicators showed only modest change, the report said.

"Far too much pollution still reaches our waterways. As our State of the Blueprint report
outlined last fall, states are not on track to reduce pollution fast enough to improve
and sustain water quality over the long term," wrote Hilary Harp Falk, president and CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Further progress requires meaningfully addressing agricultural pollution, especially in Pennsylvania, and growing pollution from urban and suburban development."

The effect of climate change is undeniable in this year’s report, Harp Folk said, noting as an example that sea level rise threatens almost 250,000 acres of tidal wetlands and coastal lands in the region.

Overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss have reduced many of the Bay region’s fish and shellfish populations from their historic levels, the report said.

Read the full state of the Bay report online.

After dropping precipitously in 2020, rockfish (striped bass) populations are slowly improving following new management actions. For oysters, record reproduction in both 2020 and 2021 provided the species a boost even as the availability of reef habitat remains a concern.

But the foundation described a concerning decline in blue crabs. In 2021, the total number of blue crabs reached the lowest level on record and marked a third consecutive year of below-average numbers of juvenile crabs.

"The 2020 and 2021 blue crab winter dredge surveys, which assess blue crab abundance at more than 1,500 locations throughout the Bay, brought concerning and disappointing results. In 2021, the total number of blue crabs reached the lowest level on record in the survey’s 33-year history and marked a third consecutive year of below-average numbers of juvenile crabs," the report said.

The number of adult females is above the level considered sustainable, and the number of crabs harvested by the fishery is within bounds, but an updated population count to determine the cause of the recent declines and whether they require changes to the way the blue crab fishery is managed has been agreed to. Increased nursery habitats for juvenile crabs — including underwater grasses, marshes, and living shorelines — will help protect young crabs as they mature.

The report said 95,000 acres of farms and forests, which help prevent nutrient runoff, were developed across the Bay watershed from 2013 to 2018, the latest reporting period.

Josh Kurtz, the Bay Foundation’s Maryland executive director, told Maryland Matters a law passed by the General Assembly in 2021 requiring the planting of 5 million new trees was “a good first step” but forest loss and degradation in the state is estimated at 3,000 acres a year.

“While urban runoff is the only growing source of pollution, agriculture still remains the largest,” Kurtz said in a statement aboutBay health. “State leaders should also focus on ways to connect farmers with state and federal resources to add conservation practices on their land, with strong priority given to permanent practices. Recent federal funding increases and a strong state budget provide a unique opportunity to alter the state’s agricultural landscape by improving soil health, which in turn would make fields more productive and reduce polluted runoff. ”

• Related: Health Of Chesapeake Bay, Watershed Conditions Improve: Report