![]() ![]() ![]() Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist Chris Moore says in a statement, “This year’s survey follows two consecutive years of declines in the coverage of underwater grasses, one of the most important habitats for blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has a theory of its own. This DNR Winter Dredge graph shows the number of crabs, in the millions, dipping lower than ever in 2022.ĭNR says, “Blue crab reproduction is naturally variable and it is difficult to identify a singular reason for the recent period of low juvenile abundance.”īecause larval blue crabs develop in ocean waters over the continental shelf, oceanic conditions, nursery habitat, and predators can all impact the population’s success. ![]() What may be going wrong for our prized blue crabs? However, they remain above the management threshold of 72.5 million crabs, where they have been for the last eight years in a row. The number of spawning-age female crabs dropped from 158 million in 2021 to 97 million in 2022. The number of adult male crabs also dropped to a record-low abundance. That’s slightly higher than the 86 million juvenile crabs estimated last year, but this still marks three years in a row below average. The number of juvenile crabs in 2022 was 101 million crabs. The total abundance of blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay in 2022 was 227 million crabs, the lowest number since the survey began in 1990. The 2022 Baywide Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey is an annual estimate of the population in the Bay and its tributaries, in which the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) work together. The 2022 dredge survey, done at 1,500 sites in both the Maryland and Virginia sections of the Bay during the winter, finds the worst total crab abundance in the history of the survey. ![]() For those eagerly awaiting summer crab feasts-and the watermen, crab pickers, and Bay restaurants whose livelihoods depend on them-this week’s news is a big blow. ![]()
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