Georgia crabbers have worst harvest ever in 2001

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Posted 7:43AM on Friday, January 11, 2002

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -Production in 2001 was the worst ever for the blue crab industry in Georgia, largely because of drought and disease, officials say. Preliminary reports show about 2.5 million pounds of blue crabs taken from Georgia waters last year, Doug Haymans of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said Thursday. Last year, the total was 3.2 million pounds, the previous record low. Five years earlier, the catch was 9.3 million pounds. ``There are still some landing reports outstanding, but it's extremely doubtful that it will total the 700,000 pounds needed to bring the harvest up to the 2000 catch,'' said Haymans, the liaison between the DNR and crabbing industry. Blue crabs comprise the second largest seafood industry in Georgia behind shrimping. The state is not a major crab producer, but its annual blue crab catch has an average dockside value of about $2.3 million. Drought means less fresh water flowing into the ocean, which increases salinity levels of estuaries. That, in turn, is believed to drive crabs farther inland, and away from crabbers' traps. Saltier water also can cause a parasitic one-celled organism called Hematodinium, which is fatal to crabs. Crabbing is a year-round industry in Georgia that peaks in September through early October. There are 159 licensed commercial crabbers statewide, and an average of 80 to 100 actively crab in any given month. Since 1999, Haymans has been overseeing a federally funded study of the industry to collect information about all aspects of the blue crabbing industry, and then centralize that data so it will be easily accessible to crabbers, industry officials, state and federal agencies responsible for regulating the fishery, as well as the public. Preliminary data shows it costs a crabber at least $89, of which $66 is for fuel and bait, each time he goes out to fish. ``To break even, he has to catch at least 89 pounds of crabs a day. But to actually make a living, he has to catch about 250 pounds a day,'' Haymans said. He said the crabbers estimate that the average worth of their business is about $17,500, and their annual expenses average about $9,700. The study ``will help the fisherman because he'll be able to compare his operation with the rest of the industry. It will help him with his business plan so he'll be able to fish more effectively,'' Haymans said. ``It also will help fisheries management make good decisions when it comes to potential regulations affecting the fishery and the people who depend on it for their livelihoods,'' he said.