"But female crabs, key to reproduction, continue to decline"
"The Chesapeake Bay’s blue crabs have clawed their way out of the cellar.
The dredge survey conducted last winter by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Virginia Institute of Marine Science found that the Bay’s crab population — especially the young crustaceans — have rebounded from a protracted slump, despite an unusually harsh winter.
The survey, which samples 1,500 sites throughout the Bay and its rivers from December to March, estimated the overall population at 349 million crabs this year. That is a 46% increase from the 2025 total of 238 million. The new figure remains just below the long-term average.
Two-thirds of that total, about 228 million, were juvenile crabs, a 121% increase over last year’s tally. The 2025 survey recorded the second-lowest abundance of young ever found."
Timothy B. Wheeler reports for the Bay Journal May 18, 2026.
