The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab population has increased by 60% over last year and a that is good news for commercial fishermen and consumers.
“The increase that we’ve seen is something that we are quite excited about,” said Rom Lipcius, Professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “It shows the continuing resilience of the blue crab population and fishery since management actions were implemented in 2008.”
Lipcius said the new Regulations were strictly enforced.
“Quite severe in some cases like the complete shutdown of the Winter Dredge Fishery which had been in existence for over a century,” Lipcius said.
It worked, immediately, and the crab population has been trending up, with some small setbacks ever since.
