maryland blue crab season 2019 dredge report

Each adult female is capable of producing several broods of young crabs every year. The focus on protecting females is due to their importance to the overall resilience of the population, said Rom Lipcius, a professor of Fisheries Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and head of the lab that conducts the annual dredge survey in Virginia. “These reduced abundances highlight the need to continue to protect adult females in order to help ensure better numbers in the future.” “Although juvenile population estimates can vary greatly from year to year, the 2022 results are the third year of below-average numbers in this segment of the population,” Chris Moore, CBF’s Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist, said at the time. It also showed a continuing low number of juvenile crabs.

Last year, the survey showed the overall crab population dropped for the third consecutive year to its lowest level in the survey’s 33-year history. This year’s survey results, which won’t be released for another couple months, are anxiously awaited. The results 'continue a worrying trend,' Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Regional Ecosystem Scientist Chris Moore said in a statement.On March 16, VIMS researchers sampled crabs at 18 locations in the Lower Bay, marked by green squares on this electronic navigational chart. The department said it will work with Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission on management measures for the 2022 crabbing season that address conservation needs. The abundance of adult crabs has steadily declined despite meeting management objectives, officials said. While the survey's juvenile crab estimate rose to 101 million from 86 million last year, officials noted that the number is below average for the third year. The survey's highest estimate for crabs in the bay was 852 million in 1993. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources' annual winter dredge survey, a cooperative effort with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, estimated that 227 million crabs are living in the nation's largest estuary, down from 282 million in 2021. (AP/WJZ) - The number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay is estimated to be at the lowest level observed since an annual survey tracking the population began in 1990, officials announced Thursday.

Maryland blue crab season 2019 dredge report