Proposal would allow VMRC to ban dredging for multiple seasons

[LuckyLady]

Crabbers fight anti-dredging bill
Proposal would allow VMRC to ban dredging for multiple seasons


By Cory Nealon, @dailypress.com | 247-4760

3:08 a.m. EST, February 11, 2011

Virginia's seafood industry is opposing a bill that would allow state regulators to ban winter crab dredging for multiple years at a time.

According to a circuit court judge's ruling in 2009, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission can ban crab dredging for conservation purposes annually. A scientific review, a public hearing and a public vote must occur beforehand.

Essentially, the bill under consideration would make the judge's ruling moot by allowing the commission to close the dredge season for "two or more consecutive" seasons.

Introduced by Del. Barry D. Knight, R-Virginia Beach, the bill sailed through the House last month on a 96-2 vote. Dels. Paula J. Miller, D-Norfolk, and Brenda L. Pogge, R-Yorktown, voted against it.


The bill is before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, which may consider it Monday.

Johnny Graham, president of Hampton-based Graham & Rollins Inc., one of the state's largest crab processing plants, said Knight did not consult the industry before filing the bill.

"This is backroom politics at its best," said Graham, who visited state senators Thursday along with Virginia State Watermen's Association President Ken Smith.

The century-old practice of crab dredging has been a sore point for years because it targets female crabs that hibernate in the muddy floor of the lower Chesapeake Bay.

The commission in 2008 banned dredging, a season that ran from Dec. 1 to March 31, and enacted other regulations designed to boost the sagging crab population.

The effort appears to have worked — the number of spawning-age crabs baywide rose from 120 million in 2008 to 315 million last year. Scientists predict it will rise again this year.

The ban affected 53 dredging boats, many of which employed a captain and at least one mate. In lieu of dredging, some captains have worked for the state picking lost crab pots out of the bay.

That federally funded program is set to expire this winter, though John M.R. Bull, the commission's spokesmen, said there may be enough money to partially fund the program next year.

The crab pot removal program is a temporary solution that does not address four months of industry inactivity, Graham said. He fears that more processing plants will be forced to close — the number dropped from 51 in 1990 to 26 last year.

Without infrastructure in place, the crabbing industry won't be able to grow, he said.

Ultimately, Graham and others in the industry hope the crab's continued rebound will convince regulators to end the ban. But aside from Commissioner Ernest L. Bowden, Jr., there appears to be little support for the idea.

"We believe opening the winter dredge season will greatly hinder our efforts rebuilding the crab fishery," Bull said.

For more news about the Chesapeake Bay, read The Deadrise blog at dailypress.com/deadrise.

[Timber]

The crabs were more plentiful this year due to a decrease in dredging last year. It doesn't make sense to take females IMO.