July 29, 2019 — Chesapeake Bay crabs have been so plentiful this year — a 60 percent increase over last year, according to an annual population survey — that locals such as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) have cheered the bumper crop as a sign of good stewardship for the bay and its fisheries.
And yet market prices for blue crabs seemed barely to move at all.
Around the Fourth of July — when crabpicking reaches its peak — prices for premium male crabs known as jimmies were about as high or higher than they were last year, at $325 and up for a bushel.
Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore — a restaurant that has been in a running feud with PETA over whether to eat crabs at all — was advertising Friday a price of $79 for a dozen crabs, dining in only.