THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140380
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: ANNAPOLIS, MD. LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
In a battle to save the blue crab, Maryland's 10,000 watermen were dealt a defeat Wednesday when a legislative committee voted to reduce crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay by 20 percent this year.
The emergency vote was the culmination of a long-running battle between the watermen and their nemesis, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which claims the crab population is in danger of collapse. The issue has touched all the hot spots of Maryland politics - conservationism, the plight of the gritty watermen and a $98 million a year industry.
More than 300 watermen docked their boats Wednesday and jammed the hearing room, spilling out into the hallway and then outside to the courtyard. When the vote was taken, anger and cursing filled the chamber, echoing from the stained-glass rotunda window.
``This is no victory at all,'' said Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association. ``This will push some of us out of business. We're relying heavily on the crab right now because there's no other species we can catch. Oysters are diseased and the rockfish is already overregulated. It's the do-gooders and save-alls who want to protect the Bay, but they don't understand it's our livelihood.''
William Goldsborough, a scientist with the Bay Foundation, said the regulations ``reduce the likelihood that there will be a crisis'' in the crab population. Maryland's state Department of Natural Resources estimates that 46 million pounds of crabs are harvested each year by commercial fisherman. The regulations - cutting crabbing hours and prohibiting crabbing entirely one day a week - are expected to save about 3 million female crabs.
Irking watermen the most was their claim that Virginia fishermen will benefit from Maryland's restrictions. Virginia's laws are already more lax than Maryland's and the watermen said the crabs they don't catch and the money they don't make - about $3 million - will be scooped up across the border.
Several state officials conceded Maryland's restrictions would have little effect on reducing population if Virginia doesn't take similar measures. Environmental officials from both states will meet to hammer out a broader plan for 1996.
``To hurt Maryland's economy and advance Virginia's is a big mistake,'' said Delegate J. Lowell Stoltzfus. He and other crab country legislators said statistics on the demise of the blue crab were flimsy and contrary to the harvests.
``It's a railroad job,'' said Harold Robinson, a third generation waterman. ``Wouldn't your lifestyle change if you lost 20 percent of your income?'' by CNB