Saving Seafood

Chesapeake Bay blue crab harvest hits record low

October 28, 2022 — New crab fishing restrictions have been put in place for the Chesapeake Bay in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic after surveys found that the bay’s crab population is at an historic low.

Results from a bay-wide blue crab dredge survey showed a continued downturn in juvenile crab recruitment and a record low year of total blue crab abundance. The total abundance declined from 282 million in 2021 to 227 million crabs in 2022. That’s the lowest abundance estimate in the 33-year history of the winter dredge survey. The last all-time high of 852 million crabs was reported in 1993.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

How to Find Out If the Crabs You’re Eating Are Local

July 5, 2016 — Seafood traceability is a global concern—and the bay isn’t exempt: The crab on Chesapeake menus may come from elsewhere in the country, or might be an entirely different species from Asia. Here are a few tips for determining whether the crab you’re eating is local.

Know your species

Callinectes sapidus, Atlantic blue crab, is harvested from the bay as well as the Carolinas and the Gulf. The usually cheaper Portunus pelagicus, Asian blue swimming crab, is imported. Beware ambiguous descriptors such as “blue crab” (versus “Chesapeake blue crab” or “local blue crab”) and, in preparations like crabcakes, “Chesapeake-style.”

Know your season

Legally, the Chesapeake crab harvest runs from April to mid-December, with the fattest, heaviest crabs typically arriving in late summer/early fall. Those Memorial Day–weekend jumbos? Likely not local.

Read the full story in the Washingtonian