It's time to make some hard decisions about the local commercial fishing industry. Again this year, there are dire predictions about the availability of blue crabs, and genuine Chincoteague oysters are in such short supply that they are almost a dim memory. What with the declining harvests and declining ability to make a living in the water, maybe it's time for a limited moratorium on taking crabs and oysters.... and already I can hear some people limbering up their shotguns, pitchforks and torches to come teach me a lesson about interfering in their livelihoods.... but here's the thing; There's not much of a livelihood left. So maybe if you want or need to see increased profits and harvests, we need to let to crab and oyster populations rest and regrow. Three, four, maybe five years without shellfish is not too much to ask if we expect to have them abound for another 50 years. If we just lay off for a few years, cut way back back on the number of commercial fish licenses the state issue, and then alternate closed seasons, we and the health of the bays may be able to recover what we're so close to losing now.
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