The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the results of the 2021 Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey, a cooperative effort with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which annually estimates the number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!Įducation & Outreach || Archives of Maryland Online ] Governor General Assembly Judiciary Maryland.Recruitment Down but Spawning Stock Remains at Above Average Levels
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Rights assessment, and full originating source citation, is the responsibility of the user. PLEASE NOTE: The site may contain material from other sources which may be under copyright. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. Maryland Executive Commissions, Committees, Task Forces, & Advisory BoardsĮ-mail: web site is presented for reference purposes under the doctrine of fair use. Maryland Constitutional Offices & Agencies Eugene Cronin, provides further information about the blue crab.Ĭrab mural, Crisfield, Maryland, June 2018. Published by the Maryland Sea Grant College in 2007, The Blue Crab: Callinectes sapidus, edited by Victor S. There are held crab races, a crab picking contest, a crab cooking contest, and the traditional crab feast! At the Somers Cove Marina, the next Derby will be held Labor Day weekend 2017.Īt the upper level of Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport, a stained-glass blue crab is on display. The annual National Hard Crab Derby and Fair is held each Labor Day weekend on the Eastern Shore in the town of Crisfield, Somerset County, Maryland. īlue crabs, Baltimore Farmers Market, Baltimore, Maryland, August 2015. For regulations governing blue crabs, see. The annual catch of hard crabs from the Chesapeake Bay accounts for over 50 percent of total landings.
In Maryland, blue crabs are the most valuable commercial fishery. No size limits are set for mature females ("sooks"). The just-right salinity waters of the Wye and Chester Rivers and Eastern Bay frequently result in the harvesting of giant males, called "jimmies." In Maryland, the legal size for harvesting male crabs is 5 inches or more across peelers, 3 inches across and soft crabs, 3 and 1/2 inches across. Evartt.īlue crabs are harvested as hard shell crabs, peeler crabs (just prior to molting), and soft shell crabs (immediately after the molt). Indeed, stalwart recreational fishermen still prefer crabbing the old-fashioned way, with a dip net.īlue crabs (sooks), Lusby, Maryland, September 2004. Trotlines preceded this method and served well for many years. In harvesting, commercial crabbers use crab pots as their main tools. Integral to the State's economy, its harvest is carefully nurtured and eagerly anticipated. The brackish (slightly salty) water of Chesapeake Bay provides an ideal habitat for the blue crab. Under better circumstances, scientists believe that blue crabs could live as long as 8 years.Ĭrab baskets, tops, & yellow crab pots (traps), Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, December 2002. Most are harvested, however, before they get any older. For those who do, their life expectancy in Chesapeake Bay is estimated at 2 and 1/2 to 3 years (as of October 2000).
As they grow from a larval stage to a recognizable crab shape, most fall prey to predators. Providing a seafood bounty, life becomes tenuous for baby blue crabs.
Crab is prepared in restaurant and home kitchens in innumerable ways, steamed or sauteed, as Maryland Crab Cakes and Crab Imperial, or in crab soup and crab dip.īlue Crab on dock, Annapolis, Maryland, 1998. The blue crab's scientific name translates as "beautiful swimmer that is savory." Blue crab meat sometimes is compared to the sweetness of lobster meat the flavor best appreciated by cracking and eating steamed hardshells or feasting on softshells. Its name honors Mary Jane Rathbun (1860-1943), the scientist who described the species in 1896.
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In 1989, the Maryland Blue Crab ( Callinectes sapidus Rathbun) was designated the State Crustacean (Chapter 724, Acts of 1989 Code General Provisions Article, sec. Blue Crab, Maryland State Crustacean MARYLAND AT A GLANCE STATE SYMBOLS Maryland State Crustacean - Blue Crab
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