Recreational Crabbing Limit Announced As Chesapeake Bay Battles Low Blue Crab Count

MARYLAND — Recreational crabbers will again face limits in Maryland.

On Wednesday, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced the summer's blue crab daily catch and possession limits.

Unlicensed boats can have up to:

• 24 male crabs if there is only one unlicensed person aboard
• 48 male crabs with two or more unlicensed people aboard
• 1 bushel of male crabs with at least one licensee and any number of unlicensed people aboard

If the boat is licensed, it can have one bushel of male crabs with any number of licensed or unlicensed people.

These regulations take effect on April 1 at 12:01 a.m. and run through June 30. The rules apply to non-professional crabbers in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries, including the Maryland tributaries of the Potomac River.

Professional crabbers face different limits.

This year's regulations came after the bay posted its lowest crab count since the tally started in 1990. The total currently sits at 227 million crabs.

That may sound like a lot, but adult male crabs account for about 12% of that tally. There are 28 million adult male crabs, which is the lowest level on record.

Officials calculated these totals in the 2022 Baywide Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey.

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 released in January 2023 shows there is still a long way to go to create a watershed that works for everyone, said the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

"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 Department of Natural Resources will set the recreational crab catch and possession limits for this July through December after the 2023 survey is available.

Related:

• Blue Crabs Decline In Chesapeake Bay, Health Earns D+ Grade: Report
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• MD Blue Crab Count Hits Lowest Total Ever Recorded In Chesapeake Bay