MD Condemns VA's Decision To Reopen Blue Crab Winter Dredge Fishery

MARYLAND — After 15 years, Virginia officials voted this week to repeal the prohibition on dredging for blue crabs during the winter near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland leaders were quick to speak up and condemn the decision.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted 5-4 Tuesday to reopen the blue crab dredge fishery, a decision that came during an ongoing stock assessment of blue crabs by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

In a statement, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz criticized the commission's decision, calling it "a bad day if you care about blue crabs."

"The success of the species recovery after a steep decline in the 2000s can be directly traced to Maryland and Virginia cooperatively managing blue crabs, especially females, based on science," Kurtz said. "Today’s action by Virginia breaks with this successful approach."

The decision comes a month after the release of the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey which revealed a slight dip in the blue crab population from a year ago.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said 317 million blue crabs are in the Chesapeake Bay in 2024, compared to 323 million crabs last year.

The number of spawning-age female crabs decreased from 152 million crabs in 2023 to 133 million crabs in 2024, but is still well above the management threshold of 72.5 million crabs, the DNR said last week. The threshold indicates whether the female crab population is being overfished or not.

The survey said adult male crabs decreased from 55 million in 2023 to 46 million in 2024.

The number of juvenile crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has been below average for the past four years but rose to 138 million juvenile crabs in 2024.

According to Maryland officials, the decision by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission would target a population of majority female blue crabs at a critical stage in their life cycle before they spawn the next generation of crabs.

According to the presentation given to the commission by its staff, Maryland officials said, the winter dredge fishery was estimated to harvest 32 percent of the female crabs that are in the bay at the start of the dredge season and up to 96 percent of the dredge fishery harvest is female.

Kurtz said the decision was made to open the winter fishery with "no consideration" of compensating for the additional harvest of female crabs through reductions in other parts of the fishery.

"The prevailing opinion of the scientific community engaged in Chesapeake Bay issues, including the commission’s staff, recommended against this decision," Kurtz said in a statement. "The commission also received 186 public comments on the proposal, all of which opposed opening the winter dredge fishery."

Zach Widgeon, a spokesperson for the commission, told the Baltimore Banner the vote does not establish a winter dredging fishery. Instead, the commission staff plans to research the viability of establishing one and will present their findings in September.

“This is not us saying, ‘Hey, winter dredging is back,’” Widgeon told the Banner, adding the commission voted for maintaining the status quo for blue crab harvest in Virginia.

Widgeon told the Banner that if a winter dredge season is established, it could be shorter than in the past and would likely have fewer participants, meaning harvest numbers would be smaller.