Monday, August 11, 2008

Will Virginia crabbers unite?

Virginia watermen rallied together earlier this year when it became apparent that they would soon be facing strict new crabbing rules. The watermen strongly opposed the Virginia Marine Resources Commission's harvest restrictions, but they also took a step back and agreed that, as a group, they needed to present a more united front in the Chesapeake Bay debate. In short, that united front now says: The impact of a couple thousand Virginia watermen on the health of the bay's fish and crab stocks is nothing in comparison to the wastewater from sewage plants, fertilizer on suburban lawns, nitrogen from air pollution and runoff from poultry and cattle farms from Virginia to New York. Yet the watermen are the easiest group to target, and they argue that they are disproptionately punished.


Take that argument or leave it, the watermen are trying harder to make their voice heard. Once split into about 15 regional watermen's groups, watermen are meeting in Yorktown this Thursday to talk about gathering under one organizational umbrella. I'll be there and report on that for Friday's paper, and for the blog. They're meeting at the Watermen's Museum in Yorktown at 3:30 p.m.

In the meantime, check out this image I found on the Virginia Waterman's Association Web site. That striper doesn't appear to be huge, but he has at least seven crabs in his tummy. Find the post followed by some comments here.














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