Tag Archives: blue crabs
‘Just Go Fishing’: Florida’s commercial fishermen getting back on the water
After being sidelined for more than a month following back-to-back hurricanes, the commercial fisherman in the historic Village of Cortez is back out hunting for grouper, blue crabs, bait fish, and everything in between. It was only a few days ago that Karen Bell, President of A.P. Bell Fish, said her team was able to go back out to sea and do what they love: fish. And the timing for some very bored fisherman couldn’t have been better. “All the grouper boats are out. They’ve only been out the last three or four days,” Bell said. The storms knocked Bell’s operations out for weeks. “A lot of damage. You know, I’ve got between my family and me, maybe 20 houses here, every one of them flooded, even mine, which sits high,” Bell said. “A.P. Bell’s roof is missing. It was like a double strike. At Star Fish, we lost all of our refrigeration equipment, the kitchens, the stoves, the ranges, and all the refrigeration stuff, so it took a little bit of time to get fixed.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 11:12
Catching a glimpse of the Mississippi seafood industry
If you were asked to list the seafood available from the nutrient-rich waterways along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, how many could you name? What comprises the shellfish? The finfish? Go! Sadly, I could only name a few. That is why there is a website provided by Mississippi Seafood that gives us the information we need. The seafood identification, scientific name, common name, season, peak season, and similar species are included. There are suggested cooking methods and a description regarding the flavor of each seafood mentioned. There are brown, pink, and white shrimp, oysters, and blue crabs under the shellfish category. Then, for the finfish, there are Mississippi Gulf Black Drum, Flounder, Mullett, and Red Drum. Red, Mangrove, Lane, and Yellowtail are part of the snapper family. Another one is the Mississippi Spotted Sea Trout. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:34
‘They are serial killers’: How blue crabs are devastating the fishing industry in southern France
For the last three years, the Canet-en-Roussillon lagoon, in southern France, has been under invasion from a blue crab which devours almost everything in its path. Scientists are trying to find the cause of the invastion, but for the time being the only way to keep the numbers under control is fishing. Since the crab tastes so good, local restaurant owners are considering putting it on the menu. Since the invasion began in 2020, the two friends (Yves Rougé and Jean-Claude Pons) have meticulously noted down the number of blue crabs they have caught. “We started seeing them in 2017, it’s been five or six years since they’ve been here,” explains Jean-Claude Pons. “We used to see one or two, then ten, and then it was kilos every day.” >click to read< 10:07
Not Fake News! Low salinity suspected for poor crab harvest in Upper Chesapeake
At the beginning of July, media across Maryland delivered good news for those planning a traditional feast of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs on Independence Day.,,, “The survey is in,” echoed WMAR, another Baltimore station, “and it comes with great news for Maryland crab lovers!” Someone apparently forgot to tell the crabs, at least in the Upper Bay. While supplies were generally ample in the Lower Bay through spring into summer, crabbers in other places had a hard time finding enough of the crustaceans to satisfy their crab-craving customers. “In 43 years of crab potting, this has been the worst I’ve seen,” Charles County waterman Billy Rice,,, >click to read< 14:36
Florida fisherman finds Maryland blue crab
A blue crab was tagged by the Smithsonian in Maryland, and then traveled several years to Florida, where a fisherman recently found it. click here to watch the video. Tagged blue crab caught locally raises eyebrows – When Tom Cochran started crabbing in the Crystal River, he didn’t think he’d make the news. But on Wednesday, Cochran caught a crab he considered noteworthy: one with a tag on it that read “Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.” click here to read the story 09:19
Survey shows number of blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay rising
An annual survey by marine officials shows a significant increase in the number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission says the overall bay-wide crab population increased from 297 million crabs to 411 million crabs, a 38 percent increase. The long, cold winter kept the numbers from being higher. The survey shows about 28 percent of all adult crabs in Maryland died due to the cold weather. Read the rest here 16:25
Where oh where are the Chesapeake Bay’s blue crabs going?
The Atlantic blue crab has long been a commercially important species for thousands of water-men in the crab fishery industry in Maryland and Virginia. But ecological damage, over-exploitation and now, migration of the species is cause for alarm.,, In all fairness, this is not the first time this migration northward has occurred. In the 1950s, a similar migration of the blue crab was observed. When the ocean waters returned to their average temperature, the crabs disappeared. Read the rest here 12:46
Is the tasty blue crab’s natural range creeping north?
Ephemeral populations of blue crabs have been documented previously in the Gulf of Maine. Johnson notes that in the 1950s blue crabs were observed in the gulf during a time of warmer waters. But once the waters returned to average temperatures, the crabs disappeared. “It’s too early to determine if the current blue crab population in the Gulf of Maine is permanent or ephemeral,” Johnson says. “However, models predict an increasing warming of the world’s oceans and recent observations of blue crabs may be a crystal ball into the future ecology of the Gulf of Maine.” Read the rest here 09:37
Gulf of Maine: ‘Poster child’ for global warming
Long-established species of commercial fish, like cod, herring and northern shrimp, are departing for colder waters. Black sea bass, blue crabs and new species of squid — all highly unusual for the Gulf — are turning up in fishermen’s nets. The Gulf of Maine’s warming reflects,, Lots of info that appears to be new.BH Read the rest here 07:54
Crab season a bit pinched in Maryland, Delaware
When you look at $200 plus for a bushel of blue crabs, shake your head and say “no way,” there’s just one thing to do: Blame it on the weather. And we’re not talking about the chilly winter of 2014, either, at least not here in Delaware Bay. But in late summer of 2011 — the last banner year for blue crabs in the region — there were two back-to-back storms, Hurricane Irene in late August and Tropical Storm Lee a few weeks later. Read more here 16:50
National View: It’s now or never for blue crabs
Two years ago, you could pretty much bank on it: Leave the dock at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and be back by 9 with a bushel or so of scrappy male crabs. Then it was just a matter of hooking up the cooker, herding the crabs into the steamer and sitting back for the 25 minutes or so it takes to turn them red and scrumptious. Read more here 08:15
Do you know where your blue crab comes from? Video report
A new day on the Big Choptank River off Cambridge brings fresh hope to Bill James, 78, a longtime waterman who said this has been the slowest start to the crab season he has ever seen. James sells exclusively to J.M. Clayton Company in Cambridge, the oldest working crab processing plant in the country. Read more here 09:32
Watermen report Chesapeake blue crab shortage – Video
Blue crabs are big business along the Chesapeake Bay during the summer months. They’re a Virginia tradition — steamed, deviled, or battered up and fried, blue crabs are in high demand for miles around. But this year, they’re in short supply. Read more here 08:49
Blue crab’s complex life cycle shaped by currents
This summer, watermen will haul thousands of bushels of blue crabs from the depths of local bays and oceans, carry them to shore and heap them onto plates from Baltimore to Dewey Beach. It’s hard to imagine, but the blue crab’s natural environment is not flanked by Old Bay seasoning. In the span of about three years,, Read more here 14:34
A New PCR-Based Method Shows That Blue Crabs Consume Winter Flounder
Abstract Winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) once supported robust commercial and recreational fisheries in the New York (USA) region, but since the 1990s populations have been in decline. Available data show that settlement of young-of-the-year winter flounder,,, Read more here 17:43
Funding: This project was funded by the Saltonstall Kennedy Program of the National Marine Fisheries Service of NOAA
Scientists unable to completely explain the mystery of the missing blue crabs
A year and a half ago, there seemed to be no shortage of good news about blue crabs. The annual winter dredge survey estimated 764 million blue crabs were in the Bay, the most in 19 years and a huge jump from the previous year. The governors of Maryland and Virginia issued a joint news release talking about the “extraordinary explosion in juvenile blue crab abundance.” [email protected] 13:19
