Parsnip Totin Jack ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Share #1 Posted July 1, 2022 Shortages are threatening the livelihood of Chesapeake Bay watermen. The most recent count of blue crabs is the lowest in years and this led to new harvest restrictions that begin today. Daily commercial harvests are cut 15-25%. Retail prices for a bushel of large crabs are up to $500. A pound of jumbo lump crabmeat is selling for $60 at my local grocery. Too rich for my wallet. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Share #2 Posted July 1, 2022 I have never been a big fan of crab, so this does not affect me, but it must suck for the people who make their living off of the crab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsnip Totin Jack ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted July 1, 2022 12 minutes ago, jsharr said: I have never been a big fan of crab, so this does not affect me, but it must suck for the people who make their living off of the crab The article in the Post was detailing how hard it is. Fuel for the boats has doubled. Crab pots used to catch the crabs have gone up from $5-$10 to $60. And dwindling crab populations crimp how much they can bring in. I’m a big fan of the crustaceans but a half bushel of jumbo males was $100 a few years ago. Closer to $300 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted July 1, 2022 Share #4 Posted July 1, 2022 17 minutes ago, jsharr said: I have never been a big fan of crab, so this does not affect me, but it must suck for the people who make their living off of the crab Blue crabs are a thing in the MidAtlantic. Kinda like saying there is a shortage of cows or TexMex in Texas. Blue crabs are good but being a west coast guy my favorite is Dungeness crabs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsnip Totin Jack ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share #5 Posted July 1, 2022 57 minutes ago, ChrisL said: Blue crabs are a thing in the MidAtlantic. Kinda like saying there is a shortage of cows or TexMex in Texas. Blue crabs are good but being a west coast guy my favorite is Dungeness crabs. My opinion is that the popularity of blue crabs here is that it’s more of a socializing thing. A group of friends sit around a table for several hours, talking, eating, and drinking beer. Picking crabs is work and the reward is small, so it takes a while to eat a dozen or two. Dungeness crabs are great, I always flew home from SeaTac with a cooler packed with them. But they’re not the same. The mindset is that I have nothing I’m responsible for the rest of the day, other than eating these crabs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Share #6 Posted July 1, 2022 Crabby crusties. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Share #7 Posted July 1, 2022 1 hour ago, Old No. 7 said: Shortages are threatening the livelihood of Chesapeake Bay watermen. The most recent count of blue crabs is the lowest in years and this led to new harvest restrictions that begin today. Daily commercial harvests are cut 15-25%. Retail prices for a bushel of large crabs are up to $500. A pound of jumbo lump crabmeat is selling for $60 at my local grocery. Too rich for my wallet. Most blue crabs in Maryland come from Louisianna, North Carolina, or Texas. There's one place near me with decent prices, NBS (No BullShit) Seafood on the south side of Dorsey Road in Glen Burnie, MD, just west of Aviation Blvd and midway between Sawmill Creek Park and Observation Park. The Medium Males are usually nice and heavy and the legal 5" or more from point-to-point and 3-4 dozen is usually enough for small pool parties at my brother's house. #1 (Male: Large-XL) Bushel: $350. 3 Dozen: $205. ... #2 (Male: Small-Medium) Bushel: $225. 3 Dozen: $115. ... Females (Local) Bushel: $200. 3 Dozen: $100. ... LA Males #1. Bushel: $510. 3 Dozen: $325. ... LA Males #2. Bushel: $390. 3 Dozen: $205. ... Females (LA) Bushel: $390. 3 Dozen: $205. ... Soft Shell Crab. Large: $8/ea. ... We often get 3-4 dozen medium males for my brother's pool parties when there's only going to be about 10 people, all don't eat crabs, and there are burgers and hot dogs on the grills, salads, etc. Usually my brother's FiL or me pick them up. He's having a party Sunday with chicken wings, hot dogs, and hamburgers and I'm bringing Costco Cole Slaw and two kinds of Weis Supermarket potato salad and others are bringing beans, desserts, drinks, etc. so crabs probably won't be needed. I'll get the $115/3 dozen male crabs if everyone wants them but its a small place and their medium crabs will be hard to get. There's a guy with an insulated or refrigerated truck who sells "seconds" - light live crabs that are still worth picking the meat from - on most Sundays alongside a gas station a mile from me. Last year they were $35 for 3 dozen. This year I don't know what he's charging. I have a 20 qt pot with a rack to steam them with "J.O Crab Seasoning #2" in two batches and get them every once in a while, though I haven't done so this year. I can easily go through a dozen of them at a time, so they're not around long enough to go bad even if I'm just eating them myself. Our previous favorite crab shack, Shoreline Seafood, closed for good. It was located for decades in a big building in the middle of Rt. 3 in Crofton, MD, SW of Annapolis. They often had "buy 3 dozen and get one free" for medium male steamed crabs for around $100. They didn't take phone orders and you always had to stand in line 10-20 minutes to place an order then 5-10 to get it. They had all kinds of seafood. I don't know why they closed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted July 1, 2022 Share #8 Posted July 1, 2022 A lot of people think Maryland Steamed Crabs are all covered with McCormick's Old Bay Seafood Seasoning. Not so. Personally I use it to sprinkle on Shrimp after they're steamed or boiled and put in a bowl. Or I add it to tuna or chicken salad to spice it up. But NOT on crabs when I steam them. I use J.O. Crab Seasoning #2. It sticks to the crabs, gets on your fingers when you handle them and then onto the crab meat you pick from the crab. Here are excerpts from an interesting article: There are three pillars of Maryland state identity: the flashy state flag, Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, and Old Bay. Old Bay is everywhere in the Chesapeake Bay region. You can find it on chips, fries, and popcorn. It’s in vodka, clam chowder, and even dessert. The spice blend is so popular that the new Old Bay-flavored Goldfish sold out online in nine hours and there is currently a petition to make Old Bay-flavored beer the official state beer of Maryland. Despite how large Old Bay’s reputation looms over the Chesapeake Bay region, it’s likely not the spice blend actually on your steamed blue crabs. In fact, many crab houses don’t use Old Bay while steaming their crabs. That’s because Old Bay is a refined powder and will melt off crabs while they are steamed. Instead, many local crab houses use a spice blend from a company called J.O. Spice called J.O. Crab Seasoning #2. Or, they might use their own house blend created for them by J.O. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted July 2, 2022 Share #9 Posted July 2, 2022 I don’t really care that much for crabs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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