ST. MICHAELS, Md. - As Maryland’s crab season enters its first full month, watermen say the outlook on the water isn’t the biggest worry — it’s whether people will buy what they catch.
“They've seen some crabs. More little crabs than usual, which is a good sign that helps us later in the summer,” said Jeff Harrison, president of the Talbot County Watermen Association.
Harrison, a commercial waterman, said the catch has been unpredictable, but this year’s concern is different — it's about consumer demand.
“The uncertainty of things, people are kind of holding onto their money. So that is a concern about selling the crabs,” Harrison said.
He added that while the trend has been building over the past few years, it has worsened recently due to inflation.
“When you plan for a bushel of crabs, you're talking several hundred dollars,” said Joe Spurry, owner of Bay Hundred Seafood in St. Michaels.
Spurry, who sells crabs to both individual customers and restaurants, said business isn’t what it used to be.
“The biggest thing is the volume. You know, people are still buying crabs, but they're buying less of them,” he said. “You know, it used to be where we'd sell 10 bushel to a stop [customer] or 20 bushel to a stop. It's turned into five-bushel stops, and the five bushel stops have turned to one bushel or two bushel, which, you know, we used to tell them, we don't deliver that few, but now we're taking whatever we can get.”
Spurry said for many, buying crabs is becoming more of an occasional treat than a regular purchase.
A half-bushel of crabs currently costs around $100. A full bushel, depending on the size, can cost between $250 and $300.