Green Options » chessapeake http://greenoptions.com/tag/chessapeake Posts tagged 'chessapeake' Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:00:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Parts of Chesapeake Crab Industry Declared ‘Commercial Fishery Failure’ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/07/parts-of-chessapeake-crab-industry-declared-commercial-fishery-failure/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/07/parts-of-chessapeake-crab-industry-declared-commercial-fishery-failure/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:00:20 +0000 Timothy B. Hurst http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/07/parts-of-chessapeake-crab-industry-declared-commercial-fishery-failure/ Federal declaration will bring economic aid to struggling crabbers

parts of the blue crab industry in Maryland and Virginia are struggling

The harvest of soft shell and peeler blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay has been declared a commercial fishery failure by the U.S. Government. The federal declaration is an important step in providing economic assistance to the communities reliant upon crab production.

The governors of Maryland and Virginia requested that the Secretary of Commerce determine a disaster in the blue crab fishery and applied for more than $15 million to offset the economic impact of new limits on the bay’s crab harvest. The harvest value of soft shell crabs in Maryland and Virginia has declined by 41 percent from the late 1990s, according to NOAA’s Fisheries Service.

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