Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 06:39:44 -0700 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Charlie Subject: [Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: Feds to Shut Down Va. Crab Fishing] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi folks, This is forwarded from another list, and is about Virginia, but is relevant to MD... Serves them right. I hope it hurts a lot of pocketbooks! > > The following article was in the New York Times on Aug. > 9. > > > > Jay Greenberg > > conservationist@earthlink.net > > > > > > > > Feds to Shut Down Va. Crab Fishing > > > > August 9, 2000 > > By The Associated Press > > > > LEWES, Del. (AP) -- The federal government intends to shut down > > Virginia's horseshoe crab fishing industry because the state has > > refused to comply with caps on crab harvests. > > > > U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta said Tuesday that the > > moratorium on horseshoe crab fishing in Virginia waters will be > > imposed next month unless the state takes steps to drastically > > reduce the number of horseshoe crabs fished out of its waters or > > brought to Virginia ports by trawlers that fish federal waters. > > > > The federal ban would prohibit Virginia watermen and seafood > > packing companies from catching, possessing or selling horseshoe > > crabs. > > > > Virginia was warned in June that it has failed to comply with > > goals to reduce horseshoe crab harvests set by the Atlantic > States > > Marine Fisheries Commission. Thirteen of the other 14 coastal > > states have banned horseshoe crab fishing or begun reducing > > harvests by 25 percent. > > > > Horseshoe crabs are a prized bait for conch and eel fishermen, > > and with its $7 million conch fishing industry, Virginia > fishermen > > are the biggest users of horseshoe crabs. > > > > Because of that, the plan to reduce the crab harvest puts an > > unfair burden on Virginia, said Rick Robins, export manager with > > the Newport News, Va.-based Chesapeake Bay Packing LLC, which > > processes and exports conch. > > > > John Paul Woodley, Virginia's secretary of natural resources, > > said Virginia has cut the demand for crabs by requiring fishermen > > to put horseshoe crabs in mesh bags before putting them in the > > conch and eel pots. This way the crabs can be used a number of > > times. > > > > ``There are two ways to do this,'' Woodley said. ``You can work > > on the supply side with quotas ... or you can work on it from the > > demand side, which is what we're doing.'' > > > > Mineta was in Delaware to announce plans for a moratorium on > > horseshoe crab fishing in a 30-mile radius around the mouth of > the > > Delaware Bay, the world's prime spawning ground for the horseshoe > > crab. > > > > Daniel Beard, vice president for public policy for the National > > Audubon Society, said Virginia's noncompliance with the fisheries > > commission plan to cut crab harvests amounts to ``piracy.'' > > > > ``They (Virginia) have been neutralizing the conservation > efforts > > of other states,'' Beard said. > > > > Telephone calls to the Virginia Department of Environmental > > Quality and the state Marine Resources Commission were not > > immediately returned. > > > > Environmentalists have long lobbied for federal and state > > protection for the horseshoe crab, saying commercial fishing has > > significantly reduced its population. The crabs, as a prized > bait, > > can be sold for $1 apiece to fishing boats. > > > > The crab's eggs, laid by the millions in the sands along the > > Delaware Bay, are also a significant source of food for migratory > > birds. And blood drawn from the crab is a significant medical > > research tool, allowing pharmaceutical makers to test the purity > of > > drugs. > > > > New Jersey was the first state to restrict fishing of horseshoe > > crabs in its waters. Maryland followed, and this year Delaware > > adopted its own plan to reduce the crab harvest by 25 percent. > > > > But trawlers have eluded regulations in those states by scraping > > horseshoe crabs off the bottom of the Delaware Bay and unloading > > their catch in Chincoteague, Va., the closest Virginia fishing > > port. > > > > On July 25, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission reduced the > > allowable number of horseshoe crabs harvested from 710,000 crabs > to > > 355,000. But other members of the Atlantic States fisheries > > commission had told Virginia to cut its quota to 152,495 crabs. > > > > ``We have already made the determination that they are out of > > compliance with the commission plan,'' said Penny Dalton, > fisheries > > director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, > > an arm of the U.S. Commerce Department. > > > > Virginia could avoid the federal moratorium by agreeing to > reduce > > its horseshoe crab catch, but unless it does, the government > will > > impose the moratorium in September, Dalton said. > > > > ------ > > > > On the Net: > > > > U.S. Department of Commerce: www.doc.gov > > > > Virginia Department of Environmental Quality: > www.deq.state.va.us > > > > The New York Times on the Web > > http://www.nytimes.com > > ====**************************************** Charlie Muise, Naturalist Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont Townsend, TN And it came to pass that in the hands of the ignorant, the words of the Bible were used to beat plowshares into swords - Alan Wilson Watts __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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