The Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ 2024 Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey shows Blue Crab populations are down about 6 million crabs compared to 2023.
The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Winter Dredge Survey, a cooperative effort between the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), estimates 317 million blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay in 2024, compared to 323 million crabs last year.
The number of spawning-age female crabs decreased from 152 million crabs in 2023 to 133 million crabs in 2024, but it is still well above the management threshold of 72.5 million crabs. The threshold indicates whether the female crab population is being overfished.
Adult male crabs also decreased slightly from 55 million in 2023 to 46 million in 2024.
The number of juvenile crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has been below average for the past four years but rose to 138 million in 2024. Blue crab reproduction is naturally variable and influenced by many factors, such as oceanic conditions, available nursery habitat, predation, and other environmental impacts.
The Winter Dredge Survey has been conducted cooperatively by Maryland and Virginia since 1990, and the results are reviewed annually in an effort to have consistent management efforts across the jurisdictions. Throughout the survey, biologists use dredge equipment to capture, measure, record and release blue crabs at 1,500 sites throughout the Chesapeake Bay from December through March.