Marine Resources Commission to advertise keeping winter dredge closed and consider extending pot season

The Marine Resources Commission on Sept. 24 voted to advertise two linked actions on blue-crab management: continuing the prohibition on the winter crab dredge fishery for the 2024–25 season and advertising a potential modification to the crab-pot season that could extend harvest dates. The motion also directed staff to continue developing a framework for any future dredge openings and to return with recommended language during the Oct. 28 public hearing.

Staff told commissioners the decision before them was procedural — whether to advertise measures for a public hearing — and stressed that the statutory default season-setting code (Dec. 1–Mar. 31 unless the commission votes otherwise) would allow a season to open on Dec. 1 if no action were taken. Staff reviewed the fishery’s history, noting a fisheries disaster declaration in 2008 that led to a 34% effort reduction across Chesapeake jurisdictions and the long-standing closure of the dredge fishery. The commission’s current regulations were described as lacking a dredge framework after a June repeal of a prior prohibition regulation.

Rom Lipcius of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) told the commission the new benchmark stock assessment now underway will update methods used since 2011 and suggested conservation-equivalency measures — for example, temporary closures of specific gear categories at sensitive times — that could offset additional harvest if the dredge or a season extension were authorized. "We think something like that, that would also be the, an equivalency for extending the pot season," Lipcius said, urging staff analysis of specific equivalency options.

Advisory committee deliberations were central to the discussion. Crab Management Advisory Committee (CMAC) members met with a facilitator and produced multiple proposals: a full winter dredge opening based on a 2013 plan, a year-round pot season without dredge, and a delay of any dredge opening until after the benchmark assessment. CMAC recommended extending the pot season in lieu of opening the dredge this year and continuing work on a dredge-framework; staff and some board members emphasized conservation-equivalency — changes in other sectors to balance any new dredge harvest — as a required tradeoff.

Public commenters included CMAC chair Ed Tankard, who described a divided but engaged advisory committee and said economic and geographic differences among watermen made consensus difficult; Chris Moore of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who urged postponing dredge openings until the stock assessment is complete; and commercial watermen who warned that some equivalency proposals (for example, a midseason closure on sponge crabs) would harm Eastern Shore potters.

Commissioners pressed staff and VIMS on technical consequences. VIMS and staff said regulatory changes would be incorporated into the assessment models (before/after comparisons are feasible) and that effort patterns differ by month: December effort is substantially lower than March in past years, with some years showing roughly one-third the number of trips in December versus March. Staff noted past extensions (e.g., 2016–17 adjustments) did not always require conservation-equivalency but that any future equivalency questions would be brought to the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee (CBSAQ) as needed.

On a show-of-hands vote, the commission approved the motion to advertise continuing the dredge prohibition for 2024–25, to advertise modification (potential extension) of the pot season, and to keep staff working on a dredge-framework. The motion passed 4–1.

Next steps: staff will prepare advertisement language and bring proposals back for an Oct. 28 public hearing; the benchmark stock assessment will proceed and inform any final regulatory decisions after the hearing.