Committee recommends winter crab dredging to wait on assessment

Virginia’s Crab Management Advisory Committee (CMAC) voted 8-5 on Tuesday, Aug. 20, to recommend to Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to close the state’s winter crab dredge season until the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) species stock assessment is completed in spring 2026.

VMRC voted 5-4 on June 25 to repeal a 16-year ban on winter dredging for blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay and to reopen a limited-entry Virginia fishery. The decision was sparked by a 10-2 vote earlier in June by CMAC members to reopen the fishery, with a 1.5 million-pound harvest cap.

Winter dredging for blue crabs was banned in 2008, and ever since, commercial fishing lobbyists have been working to bring the dredge fishery back. The 2008 ban was sparked in part by disturbing bay-wide crab survey results that in 2007 showed there were 251 million crabs in the bay, down from an 852 million high in 1992.

The change of heart by CMAC members was sparked, in part, by a strong crab pot lobby on the committee concerned about losing a portion of its quota to the winter dredge fishery. They suggested that extending the crab pot season would be beneficial to more watermen than providing a few winter jobs for 20 dredge boats. Also, since the dredge fishery went away in 2008 other states have taken over that market share which will make it difficult for a Virginia dredge fishery to survive.

Proponents of the crab pot fishery were able to gather enough votes to recommend that VMRC extend the 2024 crab pot season to Dec. 31 rather than Nov. 30; the 2025 season should run from March 1 to Dec. 31; and close the crab dredge season and not consider reopening it until the 2026 crab stock assessment is complete. The current 2024 crab pot season in Virginia runs from March 17 to Nov. 30. The committee also recommended that VMRC staff continue to study the dredging matter…