Maryland proposes a new set of crabbing rules

Some scientists said they worry that the agency's proposal doesn't go far enough in protecting female crabs. "They are under a lot of pressure to be just conservative enough," said Thomas Miller, a crab scientist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "They're not being allowed to build in a big safety factor here."

Miller is concerned that the agency is not accounting for the fact that watermen who are restricted from fishing during part of the season or one area of the bay will increase their efforts in another time or place.

Yonathan Zohar, who directs the Center for Marine Biotechnology and has been leading a multimillion-dollar crab research project, questioned how effective the rules would be without the maximum-size limit.

"There is no doubt that the size limit is a known strategy that really helps in that situation," Zohar said. "It allows more females to produce offspring."

Yesterday's proposal also would ban recreational crabbers from catching females, except for soft crabs.

The agency is submitting the proposed regulations as emergency legislation, which must go through a legislative committee.

If the committee does not agree to the emergency rules, the Department of Natural Resources said that it would propose rules for later in the season in which there would be no bushel limits, and the season would close Oct. 11.

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