COLONIAL BEACH, Va. — COLONIAL BEACH, Va. -- The governors of Maryland and Virginia have agreed to take immediate steps to reduce by one-third the amount of female blue crabs harvested from the Chesapeake Bay - an unprecedented joint effort to stop the skid of the bay's iconic species.
Maryland officials said they are prepared to offer other work to watermen to make up for lost income. Natural resources officials pointed out that there is $3 million in the capital budget to help the seafood industry. Some of it could be used to hire watermen to build oyster reefs or start aquaculture businesses, officials said.
"It's not us trying to get them a welfare check. It's doing things that are in their interest, too," said Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin.
Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, both Democrats, stood on the banks of the Potomac River in this tiny town yesterday to declare their determination to fight the precipitous drop in the population of the Chesapeake blue crab.
"The crab has more than an economic impact. It truly is a symbol that unites the two states," Kaine said. "When positive steps are taken, this is a very resilient species that could come back very quickly. We need to take the steps."
The two governors said they had charged their natural resources agencies with imposing restrictions to reduce the female harvest, a reduction that could be achieved by bushel limits, bans on crabbing during parts of the season or other means. They said they recognize that the restrictions would be a hardship for watermen but said they had to do something to try to revive the species.
"What will happen to our watermen and their livelihoods if we fail to take any action?" O'Malley asked. "The right thing for our watermen is that we act now, and that is what we are doing."
Crabbing is one of the bay's few surviving commercial fisheries. About a thousand watermen in Maryland earn all or part of their living on the water, state records show. Many more people in the region work for businesses connected to crabbing, such as seafood processors, restaurants and marinas.
Some Maryland watermen have said that cutting the harvest so much would force them out of business. Told yesterday that the state might offer other employment, several showed little enthusiasm for the idea.
Ben Parks, who heads the Dorchester County chapter of the Maryland Watermen's Association, said his members aren't likely to be interested in temporary state jobs.
