The history of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission has too often been the history of a regulatory agency that has failed to meet its responsibilities to the fisheries it is supposed to protect. But this week, the commission acted responsibly and fairly in imposing new restrictions designed to protect the Chesapeake Bay blue crab.

Not all environmentalists are happy with the restrictions, which were modified to appease the concerns of watermen, but the new rules are tougher than the regulations that had been suggested by the industry. They are a move in the right direction and, as commission member Jane Webb of Newport News noted, provide a structure within which the fishery must now be managed. Said Webb, "We've begun a process that if there's no natural disaster has hope in it for the recovery of the fishery."

The new regulations protect pregnant crabs and put a cap on the number of people who can receive commercial licenses to enter the fishery and the number of crab pots, or traps, they can use. One can argue that the limits are too high, but the new regulations will keep pressure on the fishery from increasing. If the number of crabs in the bay continues to decrease, then the commission will have no choice but to impose tougher regulations.

What has caused the decline in crabs is the subject of considerable disagreement, but when a fishery is in distress it makes sense to put limits on the catch no matter what the cause of that decline. To try to imagine the Chesapeake Bay with no crab fishery would be like trying to imagine Virginia with no Colonial history. These steps to protect the crab are welcome, and VMRC must not hesitate to impose more if the need arises.

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