Maryland Seafood: Fewer Crabs, So So Prices

'A ho-hum year' for seafood

Seafood dealers, so far this season, are seeing slightly fewer crabs, and prices about the same as last year.

"It's a ho-hum year," said Pat Reese, owner of Southern Connection Seafood, a wholesale business in Crisfield. "Nothing spectacular." But Reese said his business has been "pretty decent" overall in spite of rising fuel prices and a 25 percent decline in soft crab sales this spring.

Watermen are getting about $70 per bushel for No. 1 male crabs, and about $30 for females and smaller males, said Jerry Lankford, who buys and sells crabs for Southern Connection. Wholesalers are selling the crabs to retailers for $60 to $100 per bushel, and they are resold to the public for as much as $150 per bushel, he said.

I'm sure the economy is hurting the seafood industry.  The class of people likely to be buying a couple of bushels of crabs to have a party with friends is also the class of people most likely to have problems with the downturn and slow regrowth of the economy.  I'm thinking of the blue collar workers, builders and the tradesmen who have been hit hardest in the recession.

However, crabs seem to be selling briskly at our local dealer, Chesapeake Bounty.