Blue Crab Target Setting Miller and Houde

The fishery for blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is the most valuable commercial fishery in Chesapeake Bay. In 1997, 69 million lbs. were landed with dockside value of $73 million. A large, but unquantified amount, is taken by recreational crabbers. Ecologically, blue crab is an important benthic predator. In turn, it is prey for several predatory fish. Sound management of this resource to insure a sustainable population is critical. It is important to establish targets to protect the resource and judge the efficacy of management actions. We have developed a hierarchy of target levels, designated to address sustainability, efficiency, and recovery scenarios. Targets were derived from 1) reported catches and effort in the commercial fishery, 2) statistics from fishery-independent surveys, and 3) knowledge of the biology of blue crab. Targets that are recommended include population sizes, catches, and effort levels, as well as reference fishing mortality rates. They are intended to be conservative and risk-averse. Proposed targets will promote a sustainable and economically viable fishery, while protecting the ecological value of the blue crab in Chesapeake Bay. In the hierarchy, the first targeting level is one that designates population abundances and fishing mortality rates to insure sustainability of the resource. A second level of targeting insures that the maximu