"If you could take the livelihoods of individuals and the cultural heritage off the table, this fishery is crying out for quota-based management," Miller said. But, he added, "it would be universally, politically unacceptable, and it would require a substantial investment in enforcement."
Yonathan Zohar, who directs the university's Center for Marine Biotechnology, agrees that the states' proposals do not go far enough. "We are at a critical point," he said. "If we do nothing about it, it's going to be disastrous."
Zohar's Inner Harbor lab has mapped the routes that female crabs follow in Maryland to reach Virginia's spawning sanctuaries. He is pushing a plan to close those corridors during certain times of the year - an idea not on the table now.
Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, said Maryland officials are looking in the long run at both a quota system and protecting corridors. But first, she said, they must establish short-term measures.
Swanson said the cooperation between Maryland and Virginia this year is unprecedented. But she said Virginia's proposals thus far have been more bold - perhaps because the state had further to go just to be on par with Maryland.
"I don't think Maryland has really put ideas on the table that are really going to cut the harvest," Swanson said. "But I think Maryland will get there."
Maryland watermen and environmentalists have often pointed their fingers south when discussing whom to blame for the drop in crabs. Virginia has long allowed practices that Maryland bans, such as the winter dredge fishery and the taking of pregnant females, known as sponge crabs. It has had more liberal size limits, and its season begins earlier.
But Virginia officials say they are ready to get tough now. If data from the latest dredge survey indicate that the crab population has dropped even more, regulators will consider drastic action, said John M.R. Bull, a spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
"We will talk about everything, up to and including a moratorium on crabbing in the state of Virginia," Bull said. "We can't take half steps and half measures if the population is crashing."
rona.kobell@baltsun.com
