“All of the things we appreciate with family and friends happen around a crab feast.” The Atlantic blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, is an iconic inhabitant of the Chesapeake Bay. You pick crabs and spend an extended meal with wooden mallets and cold beer and tell jokes and reminisce,” said Thomas Miller, professor of fisheries science and director of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who has been part of the survey team since its inception 33 years ago. Many scientists from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who participated in the dredge survey this year grew wistful, thinking about summer on the Chesapeake Bay. ![]() The all-time high of 852 million crabs came in 1993. That number is down from the 282 million crabs tallied last year and is the lowest level ever recorded in the 33 years of data. Scientists on the latest dredge survey said factors like pollution, predation, and a sex imbalance in the blue crab population could be among the factors contributing to the decline.Īccording to the latest winter dredge survey by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the number of slumbering crabs, and the total blue crab abundance in the Chesapeake Bay in 2022 is estimated at 227 million crabs. Blue crabs for sale at the Maine Avenue Fish Market in Washington, D.C.
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