www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/06/26/blue-crab-chesapeake-bay-virginia-maryland-environmentalists/
Virginia and Maryland in spat over Chesapeake Bay crabbing plans
MD NatureVA natural resources folks do not seem to be the brightest conservationists. Research how the blue cats got into the Chesapeake and you’ll find that VA DNR stocked them in VA tributaries back in the 80s believing they would stay in the rivers.
Today they are invasive all over the bay and eat all kinds of small crabs. Winter dredging is a stupid fucking idea given the state of the bay and I applaud the MD folks stepping up.
MD is the real steward of the bay and we have to compete with abject dipshits in PA and VA for them to not fuck it up.
100% From 1974 to 1985, the VA Department of Game & Fisheries released more than 300,000 blue catfish into the James, Rappahannock and York rivers for sport fishing. VA officials justified the release by claiming that the salty Chesapeake Bay would serve as a barrier for the freshwater fish. The blue cats adapted to the higher salinities and proceeded to invade the Bay & all of it's tributaries. Disaster.
Bingo
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10d
Nobody ever accused Virginia of being smart
It's been a awesome year for crabbing so far from shore to mention which hasn't happened in years and this whole deal is going to screw with everything MD has been doing to get to that point
This is a political commission that made the decision and the majority of its members were appointed by Republican Gov. Youngkin. The commission ignored the advice of its scientific staff, which opposed bringing back crab dredging. NOAA Fisheries publicly opposed the idea before the vote, as did scientists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. What we have here is a naked political decision that may benefit a small group of Virginia dredge harvesters at the expense of all the other crabbers in the Bay. Virginians need to step up and tell their leaders this was a stupid decision and it should be rolled back for the sake of the overall blue crab fishery for generations to come.
This sucks so freaking much. I love our Bay. I hate these fuckin goons.
Looks like Gun Boats sinking VA ships in the Chesapeake back on the menu boys!
I hate this headline. It misuses an excellent pun.
Baby crabs are zoea.
Baby oysters are spat.
Missed opportunity, editor. Missed opportunity.
They were pinched for time and couldn’t come up with anything better.
Ouch.
I remember—back in the 80s, I think it was—that the WaPo used the same pun in two different headlines in the same edition. The next day they announced that the editor was bannning puns in headlines.
Ah. Understandable.
Virginia's crab regulations are a joke. Allowing anyone 2 commercial pots or 5 with license to deploy anywhere vs Maryland allowing 2 pots only attached to waterfront property. You can even pay a little more so you don't need turtle rings. Commercial pota in creeks, MD no yet only 300' for trot lines that are picked up when not working. The creeks are a feeakin' mine field it's difficult to even find spots to run 300'much less 600' (Potomac) or 1200' (Maryland creeks). It's clear between this dredging, lack of protections for females and operations like Omega that Virginia puts money over the health of their fishery. The three regulatory bodies need to get their shit together and unify their regulations.
Also note that this ban on winter dredging was an agreement between MD and VA and has been in place for 15 years. It's not like they just banned it last year and VA is trying to protect jobs or something
That’s what happens when Republicans take over government. Not giving a crap about the environment is a feature, not a bug.
That’s interesting, MD is and has been a huge Democrat strong hold for years, yet….. Rockfish are at almost record low #’s, crabs are sorta bouncing back, the bay health score is super low, Baltimores sewage treatment facility is constantly over flowing, the list goes on and on… but you keep doing you “buddy ole pal”…
So, basically, Virginia's argument for getting rid of a fifteen year winter ban in the face of *still* declining crab numbers is "but we've thought carefully about it, and decided it would be great for jobs!"
Hands off our crabs VA keep your ham and peanuts
Maryland should be able to sue VA to stop this, right? Something, something joint waterways?
If not then seize the waterways.
What the fuck, Virginia?
VA has already decimated the menhaden
First they came for the Mennhaden
I don’t understand, can anyone break it down in simple terms for me.. please.
Virginia is saying they can allow boats out in the river to drag nets along the bottom for crabs. Maryland is saying that’s fucking stupid for a lot of good reasons. Virginia is listening to none of them.
How do we stop these assholes from continuing to fuck everything up?
Wow, good luck to Virginia, they’ll need it more than Maryland.
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