Dumbass.................it's not due to pollution and the Bay is cleaner than it's been in many years. The majority of the lower harvest is the lessened demand as imports have replaced fresh wild caught American seafood. It's not just in the crab market. hell Maryland has been getting over 50% of it's blue crabs from NC for years, so this isn't just something new.
According to the WP article, pollution is a factor in the decline of the Maryland Blue Crab population...
Among the problems confronting the crab population: Pollution creates "dead zones," where the shellfish struggle to breathe. Warm weather has contributed to die-offs of underwater grasses that crabs use as nurseries. And for years, scientists have said watermen were taking too much of the bay's crab population.
Yeah that's great, but just try and pay attention........okay. I stated that the bay is cleaner than it has been in years. I never said pollution didn't have an impact. Though what kind of pollution and how much of an impact.
Now lets decide what is pollution and what's not............Sea Grass beds have been drying in many places......some by pollution , though most not. The majority of sea grass die off is a result of turbity, not pollution. Also blaming warm weather(global warming) for SG die offs is absurd.
Dead zones can come from many factors and have been happening for a long time. However, low DO (dissolved Oxygen) doesn't effect crabs as much as it does finfish.
Then the great catch all.............overfishing...........what a load of shit. Actually natural prededation is doing wonders to lower the Blue Crab populations.
