Good News for Jimmies

Male Blue crab (note white pincers)

The survivors, that is: Chesapeake female crabs outnumber males in bay

Male crabs have their pick of mates in the Chesapeake Bay this year.

Strict harvest restrictions designed to protect the bay's crab population have pushed the ratio of females to males, also known as Jimmies, to nearly 3-to-1, said Tuck Hines of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Hines, who plans to study how that may affect the population, was one of a number of scientists who spoke Tuesday in Edgewater at a seminar hosted by the center to announce funding for bay fisheries research.
...
"So, there are not very many males around and those males are mating repeatedly," Hines said.

Females mate only once and then can produce six to 10 broods in lifetime, typically four to five in the Chesapeake Bay, while males mate with multiple partners. However, it's not clear how the population is affected when the number of partners increases for male crabs, Hines said.

Female Blue Crab - note red tipped pincers

I would also note that male crabs are generally preferred for personal consumption in Maryland and Virginia, as they tend to be larger, and have larger claws.  There may even be a little chivalry involved, protecting females for reproduction.  They claim the males taste better, too, but with my underdeveloped sense of taste, I've never been convinced.

However, the commercial crab meat producers have traditionally relied heavily on the females.  Male and female crabs tend to occupy different regions in the summer season, with males favoring further up the bay, and into tributaries, while the females predominate in the main Bay.