Good news for lovers of Maryland’s signature crustacean: the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population is stable and not currently at risk of being overfished, meaning there is no need for additional restrictions this year.

There were approximately 158 million female crabs in the Bay at the start of the 2021 crabbing season, researchers estimated, which is above a threshold of 72.5 million that scientists have determined is necessary for a sustainable fishery.

The percentage of female crabs harvested a year earlier was 19 percent, researchers say, which is below the target rate of 28 percent to maintain a healthy crab population.

The assessment comes from an advisory report from the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee, a group of experts from state and federal agencies, as well as academic institutions.

However, there have been huge swings in the overall crab population, and scientists say more study is needed to find out why.

While the female crab population rose by the start of the 2021 crabbing season, the number of male crabs declined. And the total of all crabs was estimated at 282
million, down significantly from 405 million a year earlier and well below the 30-year average.

Total commercial blue crab harvest in 2020 decreased throughout Chesapeake Bay area, which includes Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River. The Bay-wide commercial harvest of 41.6 million pounds was below the 1990-2019 average of about 61 million pounds. Bay experts attributed the in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced restaurant visits and the market for blue crab.

Recreational crabbers are not allowed to collect female crabs.

Despite the relative health of the fishery, blue crab prices are soaring. The Sun recently reported that the price of a bushel of extra-large crabs was $495 at a store in Cockeysville, about twice the price that customers have paid in recent years.

Much of the crabs sold in local stores comes from the Gulf of Mexico; and crab meat often comes from Asia.

The Bay experts recommended that jurisdictions adopt better real-time electronic monitoring of commercial crabbers to prevent overfishing.