Newburg, Md.— Six days a week, in all kinds of weather, except lightning and high winds, waterman Billy Rice and his wife, Melinda, spend their mornings pulling crab pots from the Potomac River. Crabbing has been this way for decades.
But watermen across Chesapeake Bay are starting to acknowledge that things need to change if their traditional livelihood is to survive. And this fiercely independent bunch is trying to band together to control their destiny.
They've been meeting in recent months to develop proposals for improving their future, taking aim at some state regulations and policies. But the gatherings have been punctuated at times by testy exchanges among the watermen themselves, and some are boycotting the talks.
The catch this summer has been good, but long-term prospects remain uncertain for those who make a living from the bay. Oysters, once the most bountiful product of Chesapeake Bay, are a fraction of their former abundance, forcing watermen to rely more on crabbing to carry them through the year. But they're squeezed by rising costs and a market flooded with cheap, imported crabmeat.
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