The Glendening administration won legislative approval of major new crabbing restrictions yesterday after a 3 1/2 -hour hearing in Annapolis before an overflow crowd of nearly 300 angry watermen and recreational crabbers.
The restrictions, which take effect tomorrow, limit recreational crabbing to weekends, Friday through Sunday. They also prohibit commercial crabbing one day a week and shorten the hours crab harvesting is allowed each day. The season will end six weeks early, on Nov. 15.
The curbs are designed to protect the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab population, which scientists have warned may be in danger of depletion.
But watermen complained bitterly that their livelihood is threatened by the state-mandated reduction in harvest.
"If we can't make it with these regulations, who will feed our families or pay our bills?" asked Dwight Marshall of Smith Island, where crabbing is virtually the only occupation.
A handful of recreational crabbers also protested, saying they were being hobbled to appease commercial watermen.
But with only minor modifications, the joint Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee unanimously endorsed the administration's proposed restrictions, which had been revised at the last minute in response to objections by watermen.
"This proposal . . . may be hurting you an awful lot, but it's not killing you," said Del. John Arnick, a Baltimore County Democrat who is co-chairman of the committee. He said all involved in crabbing have to suffer some if the bay's crab population is to be conserved.
"No one is smiling about this, but it does achieve the objectives we want," said Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin, who was negotiating details with watermen until just before the hearing started.
The state's plan is aimed at getting a 20 percent reduction in the catch of female crabs this fall so more can survive to reproduce, with a second round of limits planned for the full crabbing season next year.
Scientific surveys have detected a major decline in the bay's female crab population in the past few years, at the same time watermen have reported a 40 percent increase in their harvest of females, or sooks.
In announcing emergency action two weeks ago, Gov. Parris N. Glendening said he wanted to head off a "crisis brewing" in the bay's most valuable fishing industry.
The governor's original plan had called for prohibiting crabbing two days a week this fall, on Wednesdays and Sundays.
