Crabbers Worried About Industry's Fate

[Steve]

Crabbers Worried About Industry's Fate
Written by The Associated Press
Created:4/17/2006 7:21:59 AM


The population of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay is steady, but a recent study shows that the crustacean's fate is still in jeopardy of a potential collapse.

Virginia's commercial crab-potting season opened this month, but the industry's uncertain future is causing concern.

Rom Lipcius is a researcher with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester. He says that last summer's complete die-off of underwater eelgrass could spur that collapse if this year's young crabs. Eelgrass is the blue crab's favored living space.

Crab prices opened around $30 per bushel and have dropped to about $8 per bushel.

Officials for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission says some watermen plan to ask the commission to limit the daily catch in order to raise prices.

In 2004, crabbing generated about $46 million in direct and indirect sales and makes up about 10% of the state's commercial seafood industry.

[Black Irish]

From the Bay Journal Dec. 2005

Massive eelgrass die-off may hurt blue crab recovery
By Karl Blankenship

Scientists are worried that a massive die-off of eelgrass in the lower Bay could hurt the recovery of the fragile blue crab population and have catastrophic consequences for high-salinity areas of the Chesapeake if there is no rebound next year.

The die-off, which scientists began to notice in August, may have been caused by warmer than normal water temperatures in the summer, combined with poor water clarity earlier in the year, which blocked sunlight from reaching the plants.

“It’s possible that when you couple those things together, it was just a fatal blow to eelgrass,” said Bob Orth, a seagrass expert with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “We are really concerned about it.”

The die-off appears to be widespread, he said, affecting whole beds of grass throughout the lower Bay.

The decline is of particular concern because eelgrass is the dominant underwater grass in high-salinity areas of the Bay. If the beds do not bounce back next year, huge areas would be barren of any underwater vegetation, which provides crucial habitat for a host of other species.

Scientists say this year’s die-off is particularly worrisome because of its potential impact on blue crabs. Females spawn near the mouth of the Bay during the summer, and their larvae float into coastal ocean areas for several months before they re-enter the Bay as small crabs. Those crabs typically seek shelter in grass beds when they return to the Bay.

Rom Lipcius, a blue crab researcher at VIMS, said the lack of beds could make the crabs more vulnerable to predation. “We don’t know what it means for the blue crabs yet,” he said.

But Lipcius added that the die-off is of particular concern now because the crab population is already at a low level. “This may be a major environmental event that is going to cause further decline,” he said.

Eelgrass is a widespread species of underwater grass, although it prefers cooler temperatures and is near the southern limit of its range in the Bay. It is not unusual for the lush beds, after producing a crop of seeds in late spring, to shed their leaves during the heat of the summer, essentially becoming dormant.

But the rhizomes—the reproductive shoots from the plants—usually bounce back to life when temperatures cool in late summer and early fall. But in most areas, that did not happen this year, and the rhizomes that remained looked dead.

Orth said that examinations of some beds in November revealed only one to three reproducing shoots per square meter, compared with 1,000 shoots or more in a normal fall.

If the rhizomes are mostly dead, that would leave only the seeds produced this spring to grow into new plants. But those plants would not be able to produce new seeds until 2007, Orth said, meaning there could be a dramatic loss of production next year.

A similar die-off occurred in 1975, Orth said, but the grass beds later rebounded.

But the die-off raises worries about what next year’s growing conditions will be like, he said. If they are poor, not only could it finish off any rhizomes, but also the plants produced from this year’s seeds. “If this situation occurred again next year, it could be catastrophic,” he said.

The decline will not show up in the annual aerial survey conducted for the Bay Program because grass beds in the lower Bay were photographed before the die-off.

The poor status of grasses in the lower Bay is in stark contrast to parts of the mid and upper Bay, where freshwater grasses have rebounded this year. Grasses in the Susquehanna flats near the top of the Bay are at their highest levels in more than 30 years.

[crabologist]

Well let's just hope that Nature once again finds a way to help itself . Sounds like a lot of maybe's and if's , hopefully it won't be as bad as they predict .

[Black Irish]

I find a couple of interesting things here. First, I noticed a big improvement in upper bay grasses going on four years now. Most of the upper bay water influx comes from the Susquehanna watershed basin (Pennsylvania & western New York state). Those two states have made significant progress (IMO) to clean up the Susquehanna and in turn the upper bay is reaping the benefits. (Remember that next time when you see a PA or NY crabber out there.)

Second, read the next article I am posting below...VA recognizes it has its own problems.

[Black Irish]

From the CBF website:

Keep $200 Million Clean Water Dollars in the Budget!

Help Bob The Trout!
On February 28th, Write Your Senator and Delegate

With 2 more weeks left in the 2006 General Assembly Session, Virginia is making a historic financial commitment to addressing our various water quality problems. Please help us ensure this funding makes its way through the final budget process -- write your legislator today!

The Virginia General Assembly has heard your call to restore our waters and proposed historic funding commitments for clean streams!
Email your Legislator and urge them to continue their support:


 Proposed one-time budget funding of:

o $217 million to upgrade sewage treatment plants in the Bay watershed

o $39 million for farmers to reduce polluted farm run-off

The result will be cleaner rivers, a cleaner Bay, a healthier seafood industry, enhanced recreation, fishing and tourism opportunities and a legacy of clean water for future generations of Virginians.

Please write today!The Problem: Polluted Water 

 Nearly 7,000 miles of rivers and streams in Virginia -- more than half of all those tested by the state -- are polluted and listed on the federal Clean Water Act’s “dirty waters” list. The list includes parts of Virginia’s major rivers -- the Potomac, James, Rappahannock, York, Shenandoah, New, Chowan and Roanoke.
 The entire Chesapeake Bay and the tidal parts of its Virginia rivers are on the “dirty waters” list because of problems caused by too much nitrogen pollution. Nitrogen pollution causes algal blooms that close beaches, kill underwater grasses and rob the water of oxygen.
 Huge “dead zones” of oxygen-starved water that kill fish, crabs and oysters have become common summer occurrences in the Bay and Virginia rivers. Last summer’s (2005) “dead zone” was among the largest on record and covered 41 percent of the Bay. Low-oxygen conditions what watermen call “bad water” because it suffocates crabs and fish in nets and pots -- extended into the James, York, Rappahannock, Piankatank and Great Wicomico rivers.
 Fish and shellfish are unhealthy, mercury and PCBs contaminate popular game fish across the Virginia, and rivers and streams are increasingly unsafe for swimming and other human contact. 
 Virginia and the Bay states have until 2010 to clean up the Bay and its rivers or the federal government may impose sanctions. As a signatory to the regional Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement, Virginia has pledged to reduce nitrogen pollution by 28 million pounds per year by 2010.  Virginia will get “the greatest bang for the buck” by modernizing the state’s sewage treatment plants and providing cost-share money to farmers for conservation practices; this will achieve nearly 80 percent of the nitrogen pollution reductions and 70 percent of the phosphorus pollution needed to meet the cleanup goals.


 

This action alert is for residents of the following states only: Virginia

[redneckshoreboy]

Officials for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission says some watermen plan to ask the commission to limit the daily catch in order to raise prices.

The Ball is allready in the Waterman's court! We just need to organize!

[R D]

Down here we have found that even the most modern sewage treatment plants can't clean the nitrogen. Our small town used to pump the treated water into the river and it changed everything for several miles in each direction. Now we pump it to the power plant to use in the cooling tower.River has finally recovered and back to normal.Fla's worst problem is runoff from golf courses and lawns For many yrs Commercial fishermen took the blame for declining fish populations in Florida Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands and they closed most of it to us including Everglades National park. meeting after meeting we told them it was water quality. To them we were just dumb [arse] fishermen who were out for there own interest.Then a few yrs back some collage educated Marine Biologist "discovered"that it was pollution and poor water quality. This is a serious problem Nation wide They have linked discharge from the city of Tallahassee's treatment plant to high nitrogen levels in Wakulla springs 20 miles away.This spring when i was a boy you could drop a dime in and watch it hit bottom 148 ft down and now the water is clear only a few days out of the yr.

[Geckert]

I honestly do not blame the farms for the problem. They were here long ago and everything was great as a matter of fact the chemicals were more toxic than they are now I blame Harry Homeowner or Mr Greengrass and every singel person I see fertilizing their lawn or spraying weed killer on their driveway or cracks in their sidewalk. Most of the farms that were are not anymore they have long since been replaced with homes which in a single year place almost 100% as much as that individual farm did in its time. Its peoples intolerability to use hard work to have a nice lawn that is the main cause of nitrogen in todays bay. More developed spaces =more pollution in the bay and we all know its just a matter of time near the water that it will all be developed I just hope I don't live to see that day because it will be a sad sad day for anyone making a living on the water.

[hopkinslaunch]

All good reasons to go organic with your lawns, folks.