If the early hit of spring sunshine has you thinking crab season, you have cause to be optimistic. Seafood experts are predicting that 2017 will be a big year for the crown jewel of crustaceans—the Chesapeake blue crab.
"Going into this year we've hypothesized that this year will be even better than last year," says John Rorapaugh, the long-time sustainability director for ProFish in Ivy City. He says 2013, 2014, and 2015 were, by contrast, difficult years. The seafood wholesaler tracks how much blue crabs cost each month during crab season, which is officially from April 1 through Dec. 15. When crabs are scarce in the Chesapeake Bay, it drives up the price per bushel.
Furthermore, the wholesale price of blue crabs correlates with their quality. "The more expensive they are, the less quality they have, at least in the peak of the season," Rorapaugh says. "When they're abundant, they're usually the best."
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Washington City Paper
