A cooler-than-normal spring has the Chesapeake Bay's Blue Crab population playing hide-and-seek, though the demand for the famous Maryland Blue Crab hasn't waned. Of course because of lower supply and higher demand, a bushel of crabs costs a pretty penny right now.
As the weather gets warmer, more blue crabs should come out of their shells (or more accurately, out of the mud), but until then, restarauntuers have had to get their crustaceans from elswehere to keep up with demand. This year's "Maryland" crabs may come from South America, Louisiana, or the Carolinas... (and the SC coast has a bit of a blue crab tradition of its own -- Ever hear of She-Crab Soup, anyone? Signature Charleston dish, kids...)
The condition of the Bay itself has also been a cause for concern -- for the blue crab population as well as other bay flora and fauna. I've seen ads for the Chesapeake club on Metro and on TV this spring, and they seem to take on a different approach to getting us to change our behavior. The ads ask us to hold off on lawn fertilizer until the fall so we can have the crabs all to ourselves.** I don't know if appealing to our selfish sides will work for all of us (I myself don't have a lawn to use fertilizer on), but I find the ads to be pretty funny...
One example: No crab should die like this... they should perish in some hot, tasty, melted butter... (Ad: Quicktime // Windows Media )
Hopefully, I'll be able to dig in soon myself, be the crab from Carolina or Maryland -- In my case, it's just a matter of timing/opportunity...
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*Alternate Title: Nanananananana... Crab!
**(There is science behind this: Fertilizer from rain runoff goes into the Bay, phosphorous from the fertilizer = excess nutrition for the environment. Excess nutrients cause algae to grow like aquatic kudzu creating algal bloom...the algae outcompetes other plants and absorbs oxygen from the water, causing eutrophication. Animals and plants die and decompose, adding to the problem.
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