July 8, 2014 — If you're looking to feast on crabs this summer, be prepared to dish out a lot of cash. A new report says this year's harvest is the lowest in the last 24 years.
It's one of Maryland's most cherished treasures. The sweet taste of blue crabs, steamed fresh, straight from the Chesapeake Bay. But this year marks a 53 percent decline from last year's abundance of adult females.
"We didn't have crabs to grow into the fishery to be adult spawning age crabs for the 2014 survey," Maryland Department of Natural Resources Blue Crab Program Manager Brenda Davis said.
Experts blame the extremely cold winter we had this past season. That means, these precious crustaceans are being savored at a high cost. And restaurants are hurting too.