According to a report the resilient crustacean is scuttling and swimming across the Chesapeake Bay in smaller numbers than ever. This shook the state officials to take some stern measures to protect the species. It is fact that no hard rules have made the position of Virginia’s blue crab population vulnerable and so the authority has decided consider stricter regulations designed to protect the species’ long-term health.
Vrigina Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) last month discuss the issue with scientists and was told that a hurricane or a bad breeding season, combined with the status-quo commercial catch, could be catastrophic for the crab. VMRC was informed that the population of blue crabs has not increased in last 60 years, thus threatening the species’ iconic place in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
VMRC spokesman John M.R. Bull said the commission can control the number of crabs taken and that is what the commission is serious about. Johnny Graham, president of Hampton crab-picking house Graham & Rollins Inc., said the new measures could cause some economic discomfort for the industry but it is high time that VMRC should act now. He also said that the industry is at the bottom, the waterman is at the bottom, the resource is at the bottom.
John Hoenig, a crab biologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, added that the overfishing of blue crabs led to instability in the species that hasn’t been documented before.
