Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Maryland offering zero-interest disaster relief loans to state oysterman after difficult season

May 27, 2026 — The Maryland Agriculture and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation (MARBIDCO) has launched a new program offering zero-interest disaster relief loans to commercial oystermen hurt by a difficult season, with both icy conditions and a broken sewage pipe impact their bottom lines.

“Through its new Maryland Seafood Industry Financial Assistance Fund, MARBIDCO is offering zero-interest disaster relief loans to help commercial oyster harvesters who are struggling financially due to poor market conditions, bad weather, and environmental calamity. MARBIDCO has USD 3 million (EUR 2.6 million) available to lend,” MARBIDCO said in its announcement.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab numbers rebound overall, but female population continues decline

May 26, 2026 — The latest Chesapeake Bay blue crab survey is offering a mix of encouraging signs and ongoing concerns for watermen and seafood industries on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where the blue crab remains one of the region’s most economically and culturally important fisheries.

According to results released from the annual Chesapeake Bay Winter Dredge Survey, conducted jointly by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Bay’s total blue crab population is estimated at 349 million crabs in 2026. That marks a 46 percent increase from last year’s estimate of 238 million crabs, which had been the second-lowest total recorded since the survey began in 1990.

The survey found strong gains among juvenile crabs and adult male crabs, raising hopes for a more productive crabbing season this summer for many Virginia watermen, including those working along the Eastern Shore.

However, scientists and fisheries managers continue to express concern about the Bay’s spawning-age female crabs, whose numbers declined again this year and remain well below long-term averages.

Read the full article at Shore Daily News

MARYLAND: Ancient horseshoe crab migration returns to Maryland shores

May 22, 2026 — Thousands of horseshoe crabs have begun arriving along Maryland’s beaches as part of the oldest wildlife migrations on Earth, a phenomenon scientists say dates back roughly 350 million years.

According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the annual spawning season for the species stretches from May through July and peaks during high tides surrounding the full and new moons in June.

In 2026, the best viewing opportunities are expected around June 15 and June 29. Popular viewing locations include Sunset Park near the Ocean City Inlet and several Chesapeake Bay spawning beaches identified on the department’s Horseshoe Crab Volunteer Angler Survey.

Read the full article at Fox Baltimore

The enduring pull of the wooden deadrise boat

May 19, 2026 — Although many Chesapeake Bay crab pot fishermen have switched from large wooden boats to small outboard fiberglass boats, there is still demand for deadrise boats 40 feet and over.

Wayne Hudgins, owner of Hudgins Horn Harbor Marina in Port Haywood, Va., is a commercial crabber and works the crab boat the Miss Violet II.

Hudgins has recently fiberglassed the 39′ x 11.5′ x 3.5′ wooden hull of the Miss Violet II and plans to install a new Cummins QSC 8.3-liter, 600-horsepower, 6-cylinder diesel engine. The boat was built by Jerry Pruitt of Tangier Island, Va., in 1986.

When finished, the hull will be coated with five coats of the West Epoxy System using 1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth with 3/4-ounce mat backing and 545 Awlgrip Epoxy primer. An Awlcraft 2000 acrylic urethane topcoat finish will be applied.

The boat also received four new salt-treated wood bulkheads, new spruce pine washboards and decking, and mahogany guardrails with a new brass rub rail.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

MARYLAND: Eastern Shore seafood companies say potential crab import bans could threaten jobs, supply chains

May 7, 2026 — A coalition of seafood companies including several local businesses filed a federal lawsuit challenging new federal seafood import restrictions that they say could devastate crab processing operations on the Eastern Shore and disrupt the nation’s crab supply chain.

While the companies have been successful in delaying those restrictions, the federal government could reintroduce them this month.

The original lawsuit, acquired by WBOC, was filed in October of 2025 in the United States Court of International Trade by the National Fisheries Institute, Restaurant Law Center, and several seafood importers and processors. Those businesses included Baltimore-based Phillips Foods and Salisbury-based Handy Seafood, Cebu Pacific LLC, and Byrd International Inc.

Read the full article at WBOC

Studies challenge ‘gauntlet’ theory in Chesapeake menhaden debate

May 6, 2026 — Two independent analyses are pushing back on a key claim driving current Atlantic menhaden management discussions, that Virginia’s reduction fishery is preventing fish from reaching Maryland waters.

According to a May 4 release from the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition, both a statistical review and an oceanographic study found no evidence supporting the idea that Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay purse seine fishery is “blocking” menhaden migration to the upper bay.

The findings were submitted to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Atlantic Menhaden Management Board through a comment letter from Ocean Harvesters, as regulators consider a proposed addendum focused on the timing of the reduction fishery.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

MARYLAND: Maryland receives grant funding to develop Climate Resilient Fisheries Management Plan

May 6, 2026 — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced its intention to develop a Climate Resilient Fisheries Management Plan using USD 96,572 (EUR 82,194) in grant funding.

“Climate change is already impacting Maryland,” DNR Resilient Systems Officer Jackie Specht said in a release. “A climate-resilient fishery management plan will allow Maryland to prepare for both the challenges and opportunities that arise for Maryland’s fishing resources and communities in the future.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: Can Maryland remain the “crab capital” if consumers can’t buy crabmeat?

May 4, 2026 — Maryland diners love to eat blue crabs, crustaceans native to the Chesapeake Bay that have been a culinary favorite in the region for centuries. But a federal effort to restrict imported crabmeat has sparked a legal fight that could disrupt supply, drive up prices and reshape the seafood industry.

The fight has also exposed a little-known fact to anyone outside of the seafood industry: Almost all “pasteurized” crabmeat purchased in grocery stores and consumed in restaurants in Maryland and beyond is imported from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and other countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Pasteurized crabmeat refers to crab that has been cooked to a specific temperature to extend its shelf life, allowing it to be shipped long distances and stored for longer periods. It’s typically sold in cans and used in products like crab cakes.

“There’s certainly nowhere near enough domestic Maryland blue crab,” to meet the large and growing demand, said Brice Phillips, an executive at Phillips Seafood, one of Maryland’s best-known seafood businesses and the company that helped popularize Maryland-style crab cakes. The company, founded in 1914, is now in its fourth generation of family ownership.

MARYLAND: Maryland lawmakers vote to expand blue catfish pilot program

April 29, 2026 — Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Maryland have voted to pass legislation expanding its blue catfish pilot program, which was instituted to help remove more of the invasive fish from the state’s waterways.

Introduced recreationally in the 1960s, voracious blue catfish have since spread throughout Maryland, outcompeting native species and harming local ecosystems. State governments in both Maryland and neighboring Virginia have tried to encourage their removal from waterways by offering financial incentives for those who catch them and supporting local processors.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: U.S. Rep. Andy Harris is angling to relax rules for Maryland fishers

April 28, 2026 — With fishing season approaching, Maryland fishers face uncertainty.

Right now, there are all kinds of different restrictions on size limits and season dates based on whether someone is fishing off the Eastern Shore in state or federal waters.

But Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) is trying to change that. Most recently, he sent a fiery letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about delays in publishing proposed recreational fishing measures.

He wants the agency to clear up the confusion by approving a set of regulations that would establish one set of rules for fishers in both state and federal waters.

Read the full article at The Southern Maryland Chronicle