A Devastating Blow to Watermen

Ewell. -- Governor Glendening's new crabbing regulations, if enacted, will signal the beginning of the end for a way of life that has endured through two world wars and the Great Depression.

The proposal includes banning crabbing Sundays and Wednesdays for the rest of the crabbing season and ending the season early, November 15. Next year, crabbing would be banned one day a week, and the season would end October 31, two months ahead of the normal December 31 closing. These regulations seem to come at the behest of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which has unilaterally declared the Maryland blue crab population ''on the verge of collapse.''

The foundation offers little evidence for this apocalyptic warning. It is true that the average catch per crab pot has declined in recent years. But as any waterman can tell you, that is the result of an increase in the number of crab pots in the water, rather than a decline in the overall crab population. It is estimated that in 1992 there were 94,000 crab pots. Last year there were 130,000. Still more pots will be in the water as a result of the governor's restrictions, as watermen try desperately to make up for the early termination of the season.

These regulations would be devastating to Maryland watermen. With the virtual disintegration of the state's oyster industry, watermen are completely dependent on crabbing for their livelihood. Shortening the season and keeping them in port two days a week would cause such a financial loss that most would be forced to seek other sources of income. Retailers would look to Virginia and North Carolina to meet their needs. Consumers would pay higher prices for crabs. Particularly hard hit would be lower Eastern Shore counties, where alternatives to crabbing are scarce.

It is especially unfair to handicap Maryland watermen when their counterparts in Virginia would not be forced to work under the same restrictions. While Maryland watermen stayed at home two days a week, Virginia watermen would be free to work. And Virginia watermen would be able to work long after the Maryland crabbing season ended. It appears that Governor Glendening is working harder to boost Virginia's economic interest than that of his own state.