Blue Crab Update

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Dear Colleagues:

I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on the progress we are making to address the Bay’s declining blue crab population — progress that I am certain many of you have been following closely.

After 20 years of diminishing harvests, this year’s winter dredge survey indicated our blue crab population has declined nearly 70% since 1990, resulting in a near historic low harvest. Since the beginning of the year, our fishery experts and others have been working night and day to develop a sustainable solution to this crisis. We have also been fortunate to benefit from strong leadership from Governor O’Malley – who has worked closely with Governor Kaine in Virginia to ensure that we make real progress in better management of a shared population.

In March Governor O’Malley and Governor Kaine reached an historic agreement committing the two states to work in concert to rebuild the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population – a collaboration that is critical to any effort to manage this shared resource. With reducing the harvest of female crabs by 34% an immediate goal, Virginia took strong action, even closing their winter dredge fishery, which historically targeted mature female crabs overwintering at the mouth of the Bay.

On May 22, the General Assembly’s Joint Committee of Administrative, Executive, Legislative Review approved, by a vote of 10 to 2, our emergency regulations designed to reduce Maryland’s female blue crab harvest by 34 percent. Those regulations went into effect June 1.

During the session, the Governor and legislators worked together to secure $3 million in state capital funds to mitigate the economic impact of the emergency regulations on commercial crabbers and other businesses. Our congressional delegation is also supporting the Governor’s request for federal disaster relief by seeking $15 million in federal funds to provide alternative economic opportunities for displaced watermen and processing industry workers. We are currently working with watermen and industry leaders to determine how best to utilize these funds — to employ watermen to do restoration work; provide opportunities to diversify into other fisheries or aquaculture ventures; and help our processing plants to stay open and keep local people employed.

I’d like to thank and congratulate our entire fisheries team for their expert work -- completed and continuing. I’d also like to recognize our legislators and stakeholders who have taken the gravity of this situation seriously and rallied behind the Governor’s leadership to take difficult action now to rebuild our blue crab stocks rather than wait for a complete fishery collapse.

Finally, I’d like to extend special recognition to Lynn Fegley, our lead crab biologist, for her expertise, leadership and dedication to this issue, and her grace in the line of fire.

John

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June 11, 2008