O'Malley Seeks Federal Help for Watermen BALTIMORE, MD (wypr) - Governor Martin O'Malley is turning to the federal government for help for hard-pressed Maryland watermen affected by declining crab stocks and new crabbing regulations. WYPR's Joel McCord reports.

Two weeks ago, state officials moved to end the season for female crabs seven weeks early as part of a plan to stave off a precipitous crash in the population. This morning, O'Malley said he has asked the U.S. Secretary of Commerce for a disaster declaration that could trigger as much as 15 million dollars in federal aid over the next three years for watermen hurt by the move.

Flanked by Maryland Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, he said it was part of an effort to save the watermen as well as the crabs.

TAPE: (19 SECONDS), TRACK 54 @ 02:05
IC: What we've seen happening in the last 15 years is a 70-percent reduction in the crab population. And you do not need a degree in math to see that if that trajectory were to continue, the entire crab population would simply implode.

The state budget adopted last month already contains three million dollars to hire watermen for bay restoration projects. O'Malley said that money can be combined with federal dollars.

TAPE: (9 SECONDS), TRACK 54 @ 03:01
IC: We will keep our watermen working on things that rehabilitate and bring back the health of the bay while we're waiting for this crab population to rebound. 03:10

While O'Malley asked for the disaster declaration, Mikulski and Cardin, who sit on the Senate Appropriations and Budget committees respectively, are seeking funding. Mikulski said the money could begin flowing by October first, just in time to help lower bay watermen.

TAPE: (17 SECONDS) TRACK 55 @ 03:01
IC: We think crab season starts Memorial Day and ends Labor Day, but it is really in the fall that our biggest, juiciest female crabs come in. That's when they need to take a breather, that's when we need to put the money in the federal checkbook. 03:18





When O'Malley announced the new restrictions, some watermen rejected the idea of using their boats and crews for bay restoration projects. They said it amounted to charity. Today, Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association said the jobs are better than the alternative.

TAPE: (18 SECONDS) TRACK 58 @ 06:44
IC: Our watermen don't want a hand-out. They want to work for their money. And so by making it so that we can go out there and do some good on the bay then the watermen accept that. 07:02

Harold Robinson, a Dorchester County waterman, works the bay from Hooper's Island to the Virginia line, where they are dependent on the autumn run of females migrating down the bay to spawn.

TAPE: (19 SECONDS) TRACK 59 @ 00:41
IC: The female run, which starts in October and runs right through to we'll say Thanksgiving, which will be around the twenty-fifth of November, that's the best run of crabs that we have the whole season and this will be the time that will lose the most because the cut-off date on this is like the 22nd of October. 01:03

But he was a little skeptical of the plan to seek disaster relief funds.

TAPE: (4 SECONDS) TRACK 59 @ 01:13
IC: It'd be a help, but it won't, it won't offset the money that we're going to lose by far. 01:17

O'Malley and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced last month they would work together on efforts to restore the blue crab population. This was after agencies in both states reported the lowest crab harvest in decades last year and predicted this season's harvest could be even worse.

Kaine was expected to seek federal help for watermen in his state as well.

The help is available under federal laws that allow the Secretary of Commerce to declare disasters either natural or man-made--in commercial fisheries. Doug Siglin, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's federal liaison said the laws have been used previously to provide aid for commercial fishermen.

TAPE: (12 SECONDS) TRACK 60 @ 01:10
IC: This has been done 22 times under the provisions of these acts. And one of the most prominent recently was salmon in Northern California in the Pacific salmon fishery. It's also been done recently in Massachusetts with ground fish. 01:22

He predicted the search for money would be successful because both Democrats and Republicans are involved.


I'm Joel McCord, reporting in Fells Point, for 88.1, WYPR.
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