November 2, 2012 — Superstorm Sandy set many watermen back a week because they could not get out to work. Scott Todd was one of many watermen who fought for an extra week of crabbing. On Friday he got it.
"We just started catching some crabs and making some money and the last part of October and the first part of November are really good weeks for us," Todd said. "And when it was apparent how big of a storm this was, you could tell it was going to be a three or four day event and you knew we were going to loose a lot of time."
Waterman Bunky Chance said it is only fair for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to extend the female harvesting deadline.
"We felt like to demonstrate as a gesture of good faith that it would be a good thing for them to allow us to have those working days, because those working days are already figured into the mix," Chance said. "So those are days they lost, for them to be given those days is not to be gaining anything. It's only to be having what was originally intended to start with."
DNR issued WBOC this statement. "Due to the impacts of Hurricane Sandy, the commercial crabbing season will be extended for female harvest through Nov. 17. These six additional days of harvest are a direct replacement for the six days lost due to the hurricane.