As a native Marylander, my love for the blue crab is home grown. It has been with great sadness that I've watched the decline of one of the greatest fisheries in the world and with it the fate of the blue crab. Limits on harvest were weak at best and no one could convince the crabmen that unless they changed their ways, there would be no crab to harvest.It was with a glimmer of hope that the Washington Post reported that blue crab populations have rebounded (article links here). Are the crabs back for good? It's much too soon to tell but if there are three consistent years of population growth then there might be reason to celebrate. Let's hope Virginia and Maryland keep the limits on harvesting of females and ending the dredge fishing. In the meantime I'll keep my fingers crossed for the days full of fat, plentiful crabs.
2 comments:
This sounds promising. My stepfather was born and raised in Baltimore and while he's been in New Mexico for over 35 years now, he still goes back to visit his granddaughter and her family every summer. He stopped eating crabs years ago out of protest. I'm sending him the article.
Must be hard for you to be away from the sea and it's bounty, Shamu. I am puzzled by the lack of variety of fish here in Florida and am hearing that the waters are over-fished or sent elsewhere. After living in Sydney with so much to choose from, it's very hard to be satisfied with yellow tail snapper as the most plentiful fish available. And why is it when I go to the grocery store to get the snap frozen fish, it's from China or Thailand? How can one support locally and eat locally when the local stuff is not even available to you?
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