Virginia commission changing course on winter dredge crabbing

DELMARVA – The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) is changing course on its June decision that would have allowed winter dredge crabbing in the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Last week the commission voted to approve a public hearing on the matter.

“I couldn’t find very many watermen in Virginia that supported the winter dredging,” said Captain Robert Newberry, the Chairman of the Delmarva Fisheries Association.

Newberry said the practice could have a negative impact on the population of reproducing females in the bay: “I would be very careful with doing anything that would deplete the population in a detrimental attitude, which the winter dredging will do. I mean, you’re taking the brood stock and you don’t–you want all the brood stock you can get.”

Dredging for crabs in that December-to-March window was prohibited by Virginia back in 2008.

Newberry said that in its 16-year absence, many watermen decided to move on: “When virginia banned the winter dredging, they basically compensated them for their licenses and everything else. So with that, the gear went away and no one–really two or three crabbers–had the gear, and they’re older fellows. It’s a hard job dredging crabs in the winter. And they just said, you know, financially it was not feasible.”

Especially with so few watermen asking for it in the first place– Newberry thinks the risks of the winter dredging outweigh the potential benefits.

“I would weigh on the cautionary side, and I think Virginia’s done a good move of weighing on the cautionary side,” he said.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, which came out in strong opposition to VMRC’s vote in June that would have repealed the prohibition on winter crab dredging, told WMDT they are reserving comment until after VMRC’s final vote in October.