Virginia Lifts Ban on Winter Crab Dredging Amidst Maryland Opposition

Newport News, Va. — The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) voted to lift a ban on dredging for blue crabs in the winter in a narrow 5-4 decision on Tuesday. The process, involving towing a “half-inch nylon mesh liner” along the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, allows fishers to collect blue crabs along the bay floor, according to Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The move drew immediate criticism from neighboring Maryland. The Maryland DNR stated in a release that it “strongly disagrees with Virginia’s decision.”

Maryland DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz said in a statement that the recovery of the blue crab after a steep decline in the 2000s “can be directly traced to Maryland and Virginia cooperatively managing blue crabs, especially females, based on science.” He added that the action by the VMRC “breaks with this successful approach.”

“It’s a bad day if you care about blue crabs,” Kurtz wrote.

In response, VMRC’s Director of Communications Zach Widgeon stated, “We didn’t open the fishery; nothing has changed,” adding that the move allows its staff to research what dredge fishing would look like in Virginia in 2025. Widgeon noted there had been “lots of contention” over whether the VMRC could have prohibitions over fisheries.

“Does that discriminate against certain user groups, in particular the winter dredge fishermen?” he asked.

When the winter dredging prohibition went into effect in 2008, there were 98 eligible permit holders harvesting crabs in the fishery. That user group has “declined drastically,” Widgeon said. Since then, “a lot of our commercial watermen” have been asking “what is the trigger point” for when winter dredging could resume.

Allison Colden, Maryland director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, told WTOP the move by the VMRC raises more questions than answers.

“How many people would be allowed to participate? How many days of the week?” she asked, expressing concerns about the impact of a potential harvest on the crab population across the Chesapeake Bay.

Colden said the concern over reopening the winter crab fishery stems from the tumultuous history of the crab population. Prior to the 2008 closure of the fishery, 96% of the harvest was adult female crabs that were “harvested before they had an opportunity to spawn and contribute to the next generation of crabs,” she said.

“At that time, we had declared a ‘federal fisheries disaster’ based on the low number of crabs in the bay and concerns about the long-term sustainability of the population,” Colden added. According to her, concerns about the crab population remain.

In the winter dredge survey of the crab population released in May, the VMRC and Maryland DNR estimated the blue crab “abundance” at 317 million, down from the previous year’s survey of 323 million.

The VMRC will meet again in September to discuss and vote on crab dredging regulations.