BALTIMORE — Some welcome news for fans of crabs and the Chesapeake Bay.
A new survey released by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources estimates the bay being home to 349 million blue crabs.
That's 46 percent over last year's estimate, and follows six straight years of below average crab populations.
More good news is 228 million of those are juvenile crabs which is a whopping 121 percent increase from last year.
Another 37 million are adult males, 43 percent higher than 2025.
This all comes despite a very rough winter for crabs which saw 20 percent of adult males and 12 percent of adult females die.
“It’s very encouraging to see higher levels of blue crabs and juveniles, especially after a few years of lower juvenile recruitment,” Mandy Bromilow, DNR’s blue crab program manager, said. “However, we’ll still have to remain vigilant about the population, given that we have seen declines.”
