Maryland Archives - Saving Seafood

Officials spark debate with proposal to lift ban on controversial fishing practice: ‘One of the biggest unknowns’

June 18, 2025 — Maryland officials are considering lifting a current ban on fishing for striped bass.

However, reopening fishing could impact the species’ already-low reproduction rates and threaten its survival in the Chesapeake Bay.

What’s happening?

As Maryland Matters reported, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is looking to allow striped bass fishing, with restrictions, in April and May. In exchange for opening up springtime fishing, the department proposed a complete ban in August to prevent the heat-related deaths that can follow catch-and-release methods.

The DNR stated that it wants to approach its striped bass fishing season similarly to how it’s handled in the Potomac River of Virginia, per Maryland Matters. It also wants to increase fishing tourism in the spring and support local fishing guides and tackle shops.

However, even catch-and-release fishing is linked to declining striped bass populations during spawning season. This impact is most significant in the hot summer months when fish are extracted from the water and can’t survive after anglers toss them back in from their hooks.

“That’s one of the biggest unknowns about this kind of fishery,” said Reid Nelson, a fisheries ecologist. “If this fishery blows up [with a lot more catch-and-release in spring] even if the fish continue to spawn, does that impact the quality of larvae?”

Read the full article at TCD

Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population falls to ‘distressing low’

June 10, 2025 — Blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay have dropped to a “distressing low” number, experts say, marking several years of repeated declines and raising concern about their long-term health.

The estimated number of crabs was 238 million, the second-lowest point since an annual blue crab dredge survey to measure their population started in the 1990s and coming shortly after 2022’s record low of 226 million crabs, according to experts. The survey found that the decline hit all of the crustaceans, regardless of maturity or gender.

“It’s disturbing because we’ve seen in all sectors — adult males, adult females and juvenile crabs — drops in their numbers,” said Allison Colden, Maryland executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The biggest concern, she and other experts said, is the drop in juvenile crabs.

“There’s a disconnect,” she said, “in the productivity of the blue crab population and the number of females in the water.”

The causes of their decline are a bit of a mystery to scientists. The blue crab population can vary widely each year, depending on several factors, including changes to their habitat — especially a loss of underwater grasses that are critical for young crabs, an increase in predators such as blue catfish and red drum fish, pollution runoff into the bay and dramatic shifts in wind, current and storm patterns that can especially affect juvenile crabs.

“If it gets too cold too quickly that causes them to die, and we’ve seen a very high rate of crabs dying over the winter,” Colden said.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

MARYLAND: Maryland Issues Final Permit for Construction of Offshore Wind Farm

June 9, 2025 — Maryland’s Department of the Environment, Air, and Radiation Administration issued the final necessary approval to permit the start of construction of US Wind’s proposed offshore wind farm. The large project has received all the necessary state and local permits, but it still faces local opposition and the potential that the Trump administration could object to the approvals issued at the end of the Biden administration.

US Wind highlights it has been in review and permitting for the past four years with an arduous and thorough process of reviews. It gained approvals in 2024 from Maryland, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and in December 2024 the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management signed off on the Construction and Operation Plan for the full site. Today’s approval from Maryland is for air quality permits for the construction and operation of Maryland Offshore Wind.

US Wind, which is a partnership between investors of funds managed by Apollo Global Management and Italy’s Renexia, acquired its lease for 80,000 acres from the federal government in 2014. It proposes to build in two phases a total project with up to a total of 114 wind turbines generating between 1.8 and 2 GW of power. The project also includes four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

NOAA-funded research finds ecological, economic benefits from oyster reef restoration

June 6, 2025 — A new suite of research has found efforts to restore oyster reefs on the U.S. East Coast has knock-on effects benefitting the economies of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Two sets of research, one by the North Carolina Coastal Federation and another by Morgan State University’s Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory in Maryland, U.S.A, found restoring oyster reefs would have direct economic benefits for the surrounding economies. The restoration projects use local quarries to supply rock to serve as the base of restoration projects, and once established the oyster reefs benefit the surrounding ecosystem which in turn boosts both commercial and recreational fishing.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Chesapeake Bay blue crab population dip worries experts

June 2, 2025 — The most updated edition of the annual Chesapeake Bay blue crab winter dredge survey has found that the blue crab population in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia is the second-smallest recorded in recent history.

The survey, conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, estimated the total crab population to be 238 million, just above 2022’s all-time low of 226 million.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: Maryland DNR Considers New Striped Bass Regulations, Sparking Debate

May 30, 2025 — Striped bass are once again at the center of a debate between Maryland’s charter boat captains and the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

To address declining striped bass populations, DNR is proposing changes that would allow catch-and-release fishing in April and the first two weeks of May, when the species is typically off-limits during its spring spawning season. In exchange, the department wants to close the fishery for the month of August.

“The spawning population of fish is relatively healthy. It is the resident fish in Maryland that live here for the first five years of their life—those are the fish that are in most trouble,” said Mike Luisi, branch director for Management and Science with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources Fishing and Boating Services.

Read the full article at WBOC

Maryland plan to lift fishing ban on spawning striped bass stirs debate

May 28, 2025 — A plan by Maryland to reopen fishing for striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay during their spring spawning season has raised questions about whether it’s a good idea amid a six-year slump in reproduction by the prized migratory fish species.

The Department of Natural Resources wants to lift its current ban on fishing for striped bass, also known as rockfish, during April and the first two weeks of May. It proposes to allow catch-and-release in April, and then, starting May 1, keeping one fish a day measuring 19 to 24 inches.

To offset that change, DNR said it would close fishing for striped bass altogether for all of August, a change from the previous two-week closure in late July. The monthlong closure aims to reduce the heat-related deaths of fish that can happen even if they’re promptly released after being caught.

DNR has asked the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to include this change in Maryland’s fishing seasons beginning in 2026, as it weighs new steps to speed rebuilding of the striped bass population from past overfishing. The commission, which regulates near-shore fishing for migratory fish species, aims to decide by the end of the year.

DNR said it wants to simplify its regulations and align the state’s striped bass fishing season more closely with Virginia and the separately regulated Potomac River. It also wants to give anglers more incentive to fish in the spring. Mike Luisi, DNR’s fisheries assessment manager, said the closures currently in effect in Maryland have essentially driven all anglers off the water and hurt the business of tackle shops and some fishing guides.

The Maryland proposal, though, has rekindled long-standing friction between commercial and recreational fishing interests. At the Atlantic States commission’s May 6 meeting in Crystal City, VA, Brian Hardman, the head of the Maryland Charter Boat Association charged that Maryland’s proposal would expand striped bass fishing greatly for anglers who practice catch-and-release while further restricting those who want to bring their catch home to eat. Charter captains have reported declines of up to 70% in bookings in 2024 after a rule change deprived their customers of the ability to keep two striped bass per trip.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

Watermen reject negotiated US Wind relief package

May 23, 2025 — Watermen in Worcester County say they don’t want a penny out of a proposed $20 million relief package from an offshore wind farm developer.

“The (Department of Natural Resources) asked us for input, and we’re not negotiating our livelihood. That’s our life. We’re not going to make an agreement to put ourselves out of business,” said Jeanene Gwin, vice president of the Waterman’s Association of Worcester County.

Watermen are rejecting the agreement inked last week between offshore wind developer US Wind and environmental officials in Maryland and Delaware, one that aims to compensate the fishing community for negative effects of a proposed wind farm to be located about 11 miles off Ocean City’s shoreline.

According to the MOU, which is a public document, US Wind promises to create a $20 million relief fund for fishermen whose businesses would be harmed not only by the 114-turbine wind farm, but also the accompanying operations and maintenance facility to be built in the West Ocean City commercial fishing harbor.

Millions would be set aside incrementally for each years-long phase of the project – construction, operations, and eventual decommissioning. The dollar amount goes “above and beyond what is required by” federal agencies, US Wind said in a May 14 statement.

“This proposal – one of the biggest investments in commercial fishing in the region – demonstrates our commitment to the fishing industry and the local community in which we’ll operate,” said US Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski.

Read the full article at the OC Today-Dispatch

US Wind proposes USD 20 million in compensation funds for commercial fishers in Maryland, Delaware

May 22, 2025 — US Wind has agreed to provide USD 20 million (EUR 17.8 million) in compensation to commercial fishers and related businesses in the U.S. states of Maryland or Delaware who have been impacted by the development of wind power off the coast of Maryland.

In 2014, US Wind secured an 80,000-acre federal lease area in the Atlantic Ocean, with plans to build a wind energy facility just over 11 miles off the shores of Ocean City, Maryland. As part of securing a lease, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) determined that wind energy developers must compensate the commercial fishing sector for any potential lost revenue caused by construction.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: “Not for sale” says Ocean City Mayor after multimillion dollar offer for fishing community by US Wind

May 20, 2025 — As the prospect of offshore wind projects along the coast continues, the town of Ocean City and now the Waterman’s Association seem to be on the same page in declaring that they are “not for sale.” That’s the claim made in a statement this week by Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan.

The statement was a response to a $20 million dollar investment proposal that is aimed at supporting commercial fishing operations in Maryland.

The Memoranda of Understanding between US Wind and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources was designed to asswage concerns from the local fishing industry over plans for offshore wind.

Read the full article at Coast TV