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Crab video is up

It is always a pleasure to work with the talented Karl Ferron. He joined me on Hoopers Island to create this video on the crabbers of the island and how they will be affected by the coming restrictions.

The story is here.

Posted by Rona Kobell at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Comments

Great video and great article to go along with all the other info you've reported on crabs.

So... you're queen for a day/week or whatever... what would you do? You know as much as anyone does about crabs. We want to hear the Queen Rona solution.

Posted by: Warrior Bob Kramerior Bob Kramer | April 28, 2008 1:52 PM

Restricting the amount of female crabs that can be caught this year will not fix the dwindling crab population. Crabbers in Virginia should NOT be allowed to keep sponge crabs. They should be returned to the water so that they can have their babies. Afterall if they aren't allowed to reproduce the crabbing industry will completely fail. I find it morally illegal for anyone to keep one of those crabs. We need to clean up the Bay and restore the grasses. The government should concentrate on cleaning up the Bay - lets restrict the chemical companies, etc from dumping into the Bay. The taxpayers of the State of Maryland have already been hit so hard tax wise by the Governor, this will only impact the crabbers even harder. Not everyone makes as much money as the Governor - all he wants to do is pass it on to everyone else. Give him a hand and educate him on the real issues affecting the crab population - the disintegrating condition of the Bay due to the chemical companies and waste treatments plants dumping into the Bay. Maybe the Governor should tax them for a change!

Posted by: Ellen | April 28, 2008 2:14 PM

Hmm, do I get to wear a Burger King crown? We used to pass one around at my old newspaper and whomever's computer crashed the most at night got to wear it!

I don't know. I grew up in Pittsburgh, live in Baltimore and had never been crabbing until I started this job in 2004. People who have worked on the bay their whole lives have a ton at stake and I really don't, so it's hard for me to say definitively what should be done. (Although I do spend a lot of time on the Shore and among watermen, and with scientists, so I am not completely disconnected!)

This much I know: scientists say that there are not enough crabs in the bay, and the ones that are there are living and swimming in worse conditions than they had 10-15 years ago. Whatever the solution to increasing the crab population, it is probably going to have to include some pain for those who make their living harvesting.

Posted by: Rona Kobell | April 28, 2008 3:37 PM

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About Tim Wheeler

I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
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