Officials in both states say they believe last year's restrictions worked - though Maryland's results are clouded by doubts over watermen's catch reports. They reported catching more crabs than the year before, despite the restrictions.
State officials say watermen exaggerated their catch, but as of now they have no firm estimate for how many crabs were harvested last year. They say the figure likely ranged from 24 million to 33 million pounds overall - as high or higher than in 2007. But state biologists also say that they're confident, based on other indicators, that the female catch was reduced by close to the goal of 34 percent.
Not everyone is convinced. Anson "Tuck" Hines, a crab biologist who directs the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, said he believes that Maryland barred catching females too late in the season to protect enough of them.
Maryland has adjusted its restrictions to allow watermen to catch female crabs even longer - an extra 2 1/2 weeks. But they'll have to throw back any females they catch for about three weeks in June and late September. The change is designed to help watermen along the lower bay, who make much of their income in October and November as females migrate past on their way to Virginia.
"It's better on the watermen because everybody's paying," said Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association. The ban on keeping females in June and late September will cut into the catch of upper and mid-bay crabbers, he said.
Miller says he understands the desire to make the restrictions more equitable. But he questions whether short-term bans earlier in the year will do as much to protect females; crabbers might just wind up catching more in midsummer.
"Just because you forgo catching one [in spring] doesn't mean it'll be around to make that migration in September," Miller said.
Maryland officials say they believe this year's regulations are as protective as last year's. The two-week ban in June should shield an early wave of females that swims south to Virginia about that time to release their young, state biologist Lynn Fegley says.
In addition to the closures, the state has set daily limits on how many females crabbers can keep during the rest of the season. Those maximums can be decreased if need be, officials say.
