![]() ![]() Others say the problem isn’t with the survey, but in how the findings are portrayed to the public. The seeming disconnect between the survey results and the first half of the harvest season has reinforced some watermen’s skepticism about the reliability of fisheries science. While Virginia watermen were said to be pulling in more crabs than last year, some Maryland watermen were left struggling during spring and summer holidays trying to explain to frustrated customers why they couldn’t find the crab bounty that scientists had described. ![]() A winter survey by Maryland and Virginia scientists released in early May did find the Bay’s crab population had soared 60% over the previous year - to an estimated 594 million crabs, the highest number since 2012.īut the strong growth in the Bay’s crab population seen in the winter survey was no guarantee that there would be higher harvests everywhere in the Bay, and there weren’t - at least not through the first half of the commercial crabbing season. The TV stations weren’t reporting fake news. Though his catch was starting to improve by mid-July, Rice, who crabs in the Potomac River, said the first half of the season had been so bad that he’d begun working fewer pots because there were so few crabs to be found in them. “In 43 years of crab potting, this has been the worst I’ve seen,” Charles County waterman Billy Rice complained shortly after the holiday weekend. While supplies were generally ample in the Lower Bay through spring into summer, crabbers in other places had a hard time finding enough of the crustaceans to satisfy their crab-craving customers. Someone apparently forgot to tell the crabs, at least in the Upper Bay. ![]() “The survey is in,” echoed WMAR, another Baltimore station, “and it comes with great news for Maryland crab lovers!” At the beginning of July, media across Maryland delivered good news for those planning a traditional feast of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs on Independence Day.īaltimore TV station WJZ, for instance, touted a new report that the Bay’s crab population had increased 60% percent since 2018 - “meaning you can dig into 60% more crabs over Fourth of July weekend!” the station enthused. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |