RULES FOR RECS.

[REBAL16]

WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES FOR RECS. OR ARE THEY NOT DONE WITH THEM YET?

[dwayne19901]

i heard only 60 crabs per boat, and possible no crabbing on sunday, and if you keep a female it has to be 6 1/2".  BUT JUST WHAT I HEARD

[jack1747]

they are not done yet.. today the vmrc will vote on va's proposed rule's. then i think MD will put their proposed rules into effect within a few days

[jack1747]

i heard only 60 crabs per boat, and possible no crabbing on sunday, and if you keep a female it has to be 6 1/2".  BUT JUST WHAT I HEARD

the proposed reg's say no Sooks over 6.5"

[Crabbyd]

The latest set of proposed rules are: rec's business as usual except for no females.  same start time, same equipment, same cull limits.......  Still won't know for sure until the ink dries from the legislature.

[horsefly]

MARYLAND: Bushel limits proposed for female crabs
Associated Press


ANNAPOLIS — Maryland is putting forth bushel limits, but no size limit, as it seeks to reduce this year's female crab harvest by a third.

State fishery regulators suggested the bushel limits Monday but said they have abandoned plans to limit watermen to keeping females only smaller than 6.5 inches.

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The size limit was strongly disliked by watermen, who complained it would force them to stop work and cull through their crab pots to pick out the largest females.

Maryland also plans to end the female harvest Oct. 22 and put females off-limits completely for recreational crabbers.

The harvest limits are proposed as scientists warn the hallmark seafood of the Chesapeake Bay is being overharvested and is danger of serious decline if its numbers aren't restored. Maryland last year notched its lowest crab harvest since 1945; Virginia hit a record low.

Fishery managers say just under half the crabs should be caught each year, but in recent years watermen on the Chesapeake have been taking about 60 percent of the total crabs in the estuary.

"That's particularly alarming," said Frank Dawson, assistant secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which announced the regulations Monday.

Watermen across the Chesapeake have said they could be run out of business by plans by Maryland and Virginia to reduce the female harvest by 34 percent until winter surveys indicate the crab population has rebounded.

"Everybody will feel it, and some will feel it more than others," said Marcus Blake, a crabber from Essex in Baltimore County.

The regulations take into account two of the crabbers' concerns _ that a flat bushel limit would unfairly hurt large crabbers more than small ones, and that the 6.5-inch limit would be unworkable.

Instead of a flat bushel limit, the proposed regulations call for limits in September and October to be graded according to how many bushels per day the crabbers caught from 2004 to 2007. For example, the most prolific crabbers would be limited to taking 50 bushels of females a day in October, while the least prolific would be limited to a single bushel.

The entire female harvest would be closed Oct. 22. Scientists say the fall months are when females need the most protection because they migrate south and are easily caught by watermen. There would be no female bushel limits until September.

The harvest cuts could be stopped by a panel of state legislators that reviews regulations from state agencies. Barring that, the cuts could take effect by mid-May.

Virginia was to announce some of its proposed regulations today. That state was also unlikely to institute a size limit; fishery regulators in that state have already said they would adopt a size limit only if Maryland did.

Dawson told reporters he anticipated Virginia would end its winter dredge harvest _ already banned in Maryland waters — and close its female fishery Oct. 27, five days after Maryland.

Crabbers contacted about the regulations said they were glad to see the size limits abandoned. Watermen complained it would be too much work to go through bushels to toss back large females, especially in the chilly fall months when the cold-blooded crustaceans latch together and are hard to pull apart without their limbs and claws popping off.

"They don't realize how hard it would be to grade them that way," said John Morris, a crabber from St. Inigoes in St. Mary's County. "You'd have to hire an extra person on the boat just to do it."

Dawson said regulators concluded the size limits wouldn't do the job, and that too many of the big females would die anyway as watermen tried to pry them apart.

"We became increasingly concerned of not being able to benefit from that option," Dawson said.

Regulators said they are moving ahead with plans to make available some $3 million the department has received for habitat restoration on subsidies to watermen hurt by the regulations. Regulators say watermen could be hired to perform research, but details haven't been worked out yet.

"The industry's not very receptive to that right now, but I think there's a lot of productive work that could be accomplished," said Tom O'Connell, assistant director of DNR's Fisheries Service.

 

[Islander]

I attended a special joint meeting of the Sport Fish and Tidal Fisheries Advisory Commissions last Thursday (April 17th). As of that meeting, the only proposed regulation that the DNR is planning for recreational crabbers is a ban on catching females.

[tattoo]

Intersting, 

[Islander]

Intersting, 

Here's the lastest info. as of yesterday.

"The proposed emergency regulations for the 2008 Chesapeake Bay commercial blue crab fishery include an early closure to the season for harvesting female crabs and catch limits on female crabs earlier in the fall.  DNR’s preferred regulatory option being introduced as an emergency regulatory package today, would close commercial harvest of female crabs on October 23 and impose individualized catch limits effective September 1 based on a waterman’s recent annual average reported female blue crab harvest. The proposed emergency regulations for the 2008 Chesapeake Bay recreational fishery prohibit any female blue crab harvest."

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/dnrnews/pressrelease2008/042108c.html

[yorkpacrabber]

No harvesting females, but if you don't catch enough males when your at the Wye, you can pick up a bushel of females at the dock for $40.......... go figure.

[Crabbyd]

No harvesting females, but if you don't catch enough males when your at the Wye, you can pick up a bushel of females at the dock for $40.......... go figure.

I will be interesting to see if they stay that cheap.  Comms may be rationed in their catch of females and recs will not be able to keep any, will they stay that cheap, esp since most females made it to the picking houses?

[Summertop]

No harvesting females, but if you don't catch enough males when your at the Wye, you can pick up a bushel of females at the dock for $40.......... go figure.

Yeah you are right.  It is a great option to have, especially if you don't catch any.  Chuck does a great job supplying the public.

[Joe Crabs]

Yeah you are right.  It is a great option to have, especially if you don't catch any.  Chuck does a great job supplying the public.

Don't keep em, don't buy them, not my problem.

[horsefly]

I will be interesting to see if they stay that cheap.  Comms may be rationed in their catch of females and recs will not be able to keep any, will they stay that cheap, esp since most females made it to the picking houses?

That picking house thing may become a thing of the past at least for those on a larger scale. Just read a article coming from Hampton Rds, saying one of the major picking houses may have to close it's doors this summer and the decision will probably come June or July.

[jack1747]

Don't keep em, don't buy them, not my problem.

I dont even like the taste of females 

[Seaweed]

That picking house thing may become a thing of the past at least for those on a larger scale. Just read a article coming from Hampton Rds, saying one of the major picking houses may have to close it's doors this summer and the decision will probably come June or July.

The last few nails are being driven into the picking house coffin

[Domino]

You can check my track record, I'm not anti-comm by any stretch...remember that.

But, talk about DNR taking the path of least resistance, this is such a political shuck and jive! The market price of female crabs plummets after labor day... like roughly $25 a bushel during mid september.  On the surface, DNR looks real tough and macho going after comm catch of females...even banning at some point in the season! problem is that point is phased in too slow after the peak, basically it's just following the natural decrease in customer demand on crabs.  big deal!

And if there happens to be lost revenue sept - close of season.  The comms will have sold to increased demand (allegedly from no female rec harvest) with an unlimited monopoly on the catch and sale of females during the ENTIRE peak season. 

DNR smoke and mirrors, imo.

This is the same kind of political BS that will have us all paying $5 a gallon for gas by the fall...

[madcrabber1113]

I dont even like the taste of females 

Sounds like a personal problem to me  Sorry too easy 

[Fishen4crabs]

I don't understand why everybody is worried about the female crab. I mean, I can see a size limit on females for everyone. After the female becomes mature she can no longer reproduce, Right?  Why not just raise the size limit on the males. It not like there is alot of meat on a 5- 5 1/2  in. crab to start with. For example, PA deer season with the 3 point rule.  I think the size limit should be 6 in. Now if science proves somehow that a female crab reproduces even after it matures. Then there should be a 7 in size limit on them or no harvest and/or a limited harvest.

[Pinchy]

I don't understand why everybody is worried about the female crab. I mean, I can see a size limit on females for everyone. After the female becomes mature she can no longer reproduce, Right? ...

Wrong. Females can produce several broods from one mating. Here's some information: "Although a female will mate only once, she will produce many fertilized egg masses during her lifetime from this single mating. Studies in Florida found that some female crabs produce as many as seven broods (sponges) in one year from a single mating, and up to 18 broods over 2-2½ years.   http://www.bluecrab.info/spawning.html

Even so, in the opinion of many experts (self included ), limiting the harvest of females is not the critical issue in blue crab population management.