RD334 - The 2011 Virginia Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan


Executive Summary:
Despite lower numbers of blue crab in 2011 as compared to 2010, the overall abundance of recruits and spawning-age crabs was 460 million and was the second highest since 1998. Most importantly, the blue crab stock was not overfished and overfishing of this stock was not occurring, following the close of the 2010 Chesapeake Bay blue crab fisheries.

Results from the December 2010–March 2011 Bay-wide Winter Dredge Survey conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources indicated the abundance of all (male and female) spawning-age crabs (age-1+, also crabs greater than 2.4 inches in carapace width) was 254 million. This abundance or number of crabs available to the Chesapeake Bay fisheries, starting in spring 2011, was 19 percent less than in the previous winter when the number of spawning-age crabs was 315 million spawning-age crabs. This marks the third consecutive winter that the abundance of this size category of crabs exceeded an interim target, established in 2008, of 200 million spawning-age crabs. Abundance of recruits (age-0 crabs) was 207 million, as compared to 345 million determined from the 2009-2010 Winter Dredge Survey, but the 207 million recruits was close to the median abundance for this 22-year fishery independent survey that samples approximately 1500 sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2011, an analytical stock assessment of the blue crab was completed. The previous complete stock assessment was available to Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions in 2005. The 2011 stock assessment provides biological reference points or limits for overfishing and an overfished stock that are solely based on female crab abundance and exploitation rates. These female-specific biological limits are more conservative than the combined male and female overfishing and overfished limits that have guided management of this important resource since 2001. The recently peer-reviewed stock assessment also recommends an optimal abundance target and removal rate that are more conservative than Chesapeake Bay resource managers have been utilizing during this stock rebuilding effort that started in 2008. Final endorsement of the provisions of the new stock assessment, by the Chesapeake Bay Program Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team’s executive committee, is expected later this year. This executive committee is represented by the Marine Resources Commission, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay Office Maryland Sea Grant, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and District of Columbia Division of Fish and Wildlife.

From its annual review of blue crab survey and harvest data, the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee (CBSAC) identified three main research priorities, as follows: 1) to implement monitoring to characterize the sex, size, and life stage composition of commercial crab harvest; 2) to implement a survey to estimate recreational crab fishery effort; and 3) to continue the winter dredge survey and refine gear efficiency and over-winter mortality calculations. The CBSAC also reviewed the recent stock assessment and agreed emphasis should be placed on the determination of overfished and overfishing limits for male crabs. As another important marker of stock health, the CBSAC will develop a standard based on the ratio of spawning age males (age-1+) to pre-pubertal females (age-1). This standard will allow the jurisdictions to adjust management measures, should that ratio indicate reproductive capacity is impeded from harvesting activities. The Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee combines the expertise of scientists from the Chesapeake Bay region, with that of federal fisheries scientists from the Northeast and Southeast Fisheries Science Centers of the National Marine Fisheries Service, and has provided management advice to the jurisdictions of the Chesapeake Bay since 1997, following a review of blue crab survey and harvest data.

In September 2011, the Commission voted to close the winter dredge fishery season for the fourth consecutive season and to not allow any wait-listed individuals (former licensees who were inactive from 2004 through 2007) to return to the crab pot or peeler pot fisheries at this time, as described in detail below. For the fourth consecutive crab pot and peeler pot season (March 17 through November 30), the Commission maintained crab fishery management measures in 2011 that conserved female crabs, in an attempt to promote increases in spawning activities. In 2008, the Commission had enacted a management plan designed to reduce the harvest of female crabs by 34%. This reduction in female harvest was also implemented by Maryland and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission. The major conservation measures of the 2008 blue crab management plan that remained in effect through the 2009 - 2011 crab fishing seasons included a closure of the winter dredge season, an earlier closure of the spawning sanctuaries than the traditional June 1-September 15 closure (the current closure begins May 16), an increased minimum size limit for harvested peeler crabs (from 3 inches to 3 ¼ inches then 3 ½ inches), and a requirement for larger escape rings (2 3/8 inches) in crab pots.

Overcapacity still exists in the fishery and remains a challenge for the successful management of this stock. In the 2010 crab pot fishery, only 1,084 of 1,234 eligible licensees were active harvesters, and that amount of active harvesters was solely attributable to the increased abundance of crabs in 2010. In the peeler pot fishery, only 408 licensees of 589 eligible licensees were active. In many previous years, either the number of active harvesters was less than in 2010 or more harvester than could be supported by the existing abundance. Since the fishery remains at overcapacity with effort and because there is a substantial amount of potential or latent effort that could become active, the Commission has chosen to continue with conservation measures implemented in 2008 through 2011.