In a boost to efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay's crab population, Virginia's fisheries regulators have banned wintertime dredging for the crustaceans for the fourth straight year.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted 9 to 0 on Sept. 23 to renew the winter dredging ban, declaring that while the bay's crab stock has rebounded dramatically in the past few years, "more work remains to be done to bring the population back to healthy, sustainable levels."

Prompted by warnings from scientists that the bay's crab population was perilously low, Maryland and Virginia clamped down on commercial crabbing in 2008, attempting to replenish the stock by reducing harvest of female crabs.   Regulators shortened the harvest season and imposed other catch restrictions, including Virginia's ban on its winter dredge fishery, which targets primarily pregnant females. 

A new scientific assessment found that while crab numbers have recovered significantly since the restrictions, they are still below sustainable levels.  The population had been more depleted than previously believed, researchers concluded. 

(Maryland Dept Natural Resources biologists conduct dredge survey of Patuxent River to assess population.  Baltimore Sun photo by Candus Thomson)