(Photo: WBOC)CAMBRIDGE, Md.- If you have not placed your orders for Maryland blue crabs yet you may want to do it soon, or else you run the risk of having a crabby Fourth of July holiday.
Everybody wants them but watermen are having a difficult time getting their hands on blue crabs.
"Two-and-a-half weeks ago the supply was very good [but] since then it's dropped off and crabs go through these cycles," said Joe Brooks, co-owner of J.M. Clayton Seafood Company in Cambridge.
Holidays are a busy time for seafood companies. But with a shortage of crabs, the suppliers are having a hard time filling all of their orders.
"A lot of times the Fourth of July is a good holiday for crabs," Brooks said. "This year might fool us this time. It's not bad but it's just not great like it normally is."
T.L. Morris Seafood in Trappe is also receiving numerous orders for next week. Employee Blake Whitten said his company normally takes orders ahead of time, but with a limited supply of crabs, it is just not possible.
"We are kind of going day by day and that makes it more hectic for us and more hectic for our customers," Whitten said.
If you are interested in buying a bushel of crabs, you will have to dish out anywhere from $120 to $165.
Phillip Todd has been crabbing out of Cambridge all his life. He said he has never seen it so bad.
"It's been slow for me ever since the beginning," Todd said. "I haven't had any crabs the whole year."
The recent heat waves have had a negative effect on the crabs, which is why watermen say their harvesting numbers are down.
