Save the Crabs!
I was on TreeHugger.com this morning (<3) and was just searching around and was under their Food and Health tab when I saw a post about the Maryland Blue Crab. The small article stated how the Maryland Blue Crab is in great danger of not existing at all. Here is an excerpt that TreeHugger pulled from The Baltimore Sun (a post online from June 26th, 2008):
“Maryland and Virginia’s U.S. senators say there’s no time to waste in declaring the decline of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs a federal disaster…In a letter to federal authorities, the senators argue for a declaration that would provide about $20 million in federal aid to watermen and seafood processors hurt by the crab’s decline…The letter was sent yesterday to Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland and John W. Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia point out that blue crab stocks in the estuary are down about 70 percent from 1990.”
“The money would be spent on subsidies for watermen and processors, along with restoration efforts on the Chesapeake. It could also be used for research into the blue crab population or restocking efforts.”
“Both Virginia and Marlyand’s governors have asked for the declaration, saying that the industry is in danger of collapse because the states are cutting this year’s female crab harvest by more than a third by limiting bushels and ending the season early (Baltimore Sun).”
What they don’t touch on is the reason why the crab population is deteriorating. It’s not from overfishing - it’s from the declining health of the Bay!
The Blue Crab is really important to us as Marylanders! And the only way we’re going to be able to keep the Blue Crabs around is if we improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. If you are interested in joining the fight to keep the crabs around, you can support The Chesapeake Bay Foundation by visiting www.cbf.org. We recently went to tour their headquarters building and have become smitten by all the great things they are doing to improve the conditions of the Chesapeake Bay.
Kaley Hymiller
www.orange-element.com
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July 9th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Kaley
The number of commerical watermen gets less every year and so does the amount of gear put into the water. The Department of Natural Resources from both Virginia and Maryland would like for you to think this because it takes pressure off of them.
The Bay is polluted. 40% of the Bay is a dead zone and cannot support live so all the larvae and microscopic life that floats back and forth in the tide will die if it enters one of these dead zones. Last year only 12% of the Bay meet the dissolved oxygen standards yet it was given an improved grade from a D+ to a C-.
I wish I could have convinced my mama that a grade of 12 was passing when I went to school.
Ken Smith
President Virginia Waterman’s Association
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi Kaley. Thanks for this post. We think that the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a great resource. We are trying to educate the public with a program called AquaPartners. It “educates students on how to preserve the bay and participants have the opportunity to catch, hold, and release a crab.” We also hold volunteer clean-ups and educational events designed to teach people how to help restore the bay. If you would like more info, check out our blog post on the issue: http://nationalaquarium.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/can-we-have-our-crabs-and-eat-them-too/