Summer approaches, and it’s traditionally a time when a Marylander’s fancy turns to a dozen Number One Jimmies steamed. The bad news is that Chesapeake Bay blue crabs are running especially scarce this year, a combination of a cool spring that reduces crab movement (and thus prevents watermen from catching them) following a bad year for reproduction. The official word on this came recently from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The state agency announced that overall crab stocks are at their lowest ever recorded by the winter dredge survey, which was started in 1990. But that surely proved no surprise to consumers fully aware of the current high prices for crabs — or perhaps recall that last year’s juvenile crab survey also produced historic lows. This spring’s crabs are simply last year’s modest population of young crabs grown up.
Now, here’s the good news. Do not despair. Crabs and crab meat remain available — for a price. Local chefs and seafood dealers don’t always like to mention it to their customers but the Chesapeake Bay is not their only source. Right now, states along the Gulf of Mexico, including Louisiana, are producing a steady inventory so one can eat guilt-free, assuming you can afford it. Obviously, the local supply will improve over the summer, but don’t expect a bonanza of affordable crabs or crabmeat at our doorstep.
Is there something that can be done to improve the outlook in the future? Absolutely. But let’s start by acknowledging that the issue can be complicated. Maryland’s crab population varies greatly from year to year in the best of times. Water currents, temperatures and tides near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at the crucial larval stage of the life cycle can have a major impact on juvenile recruitment in any given year. Layer on top of that the level of fishing pressure allowed by Maryland and Virginia and the state of the crab habitat, where water quality and certain environmental hazards can make a big difference, too. Some threats are straightforward, like the rise of invasive catfish that gobble up young crabs. Others are much larger, like the growing “dead zones” of oxygen-deprived water and the broad loss of submerged aquatic vegetation which provides cover for young crabs from predators like those catfish.
