Norwich Bulletin

• Even more of a disappointment than not catching a 41-inch striper to beat out John Ellis this year during last weekend's Thames River Striped Bass Tournament was that Saturday afternoon, while fishing off the mouth of Poquetanuck Cove, we saw two, small, dead blue crabs floating near the boat. This is not a good sign for those of us who love to catch and eat blue crabs.
• From Connecticut, north to southern Massachusetts, which is the northern extent of the range of this warm-water species, blue crab populations fluctuate tremendously between periods of abundance and scarcity, because local populations frequently die off from winter kill. Actually, it's not really the dead of winter that kills them. Blue crabs can survive the cold, but it's extended periods of below-normal temperatures in the spring that do the job. Also, in some areas along the coast, starfish -- a predator on shellfish and immobile wintering crabs -- are also a factor in reducing crab populations in the Northeast.
• This spring, despite recent extended periods of sunshine, water temperatures are still below average. There has not been much research done on this species in this part of the world. So what I am saying here is from personal observations, conversations with biologists and research papers that I've read over the years, combined with more than 40 years of crabbing and connecting the dots.
• Crab origins The crabs we catch here in Connecticut come from two sources. The local crab population that survives the winter, plus migrants from areas to the south.
• During banner years, local winter survival rates are high and we experience great crabbing all summer. It gets better when local crab numbers are boosted by migrants from the south late in the summer or early fall. Even following the most adverse of winter and spring conditions, there's always a few pockets of local crabs that survive to provide limited recreation for hard-core crabbers, who start looking as soon as temps warm up to summertime levels. Crabbing during these years is always subpar to horrible. When we have an early spring and mild winters, which promote local crab survival, people begin seeing crabs in the shoals of the Thames, other estuaries and salt ponds beginning in early to mid-May.
• The crabs are abundant beginning in June and become super abundant by late summer when migrants from the south arrive.
• By September, in one of the spots that I prowl in the mid-Thames River, there were tons of tiny, quarter-sized crabs that had been bred over the summer and good numbers of late-arriving adults hanging around to catch. My thought was if only we could have a warm spring in 2007 these little buggars can survive to rebuild our local population. Based on the floaters we saw Saturday off Poquetanuck Cove, it doesn't look like that wish has come true.
• One redeeming factor could be the fact those two crabs were molted shells and not crabs that died in their winter. Ieds that had floated to the surface. But I doubt this, because it's been so cold the crabs would not be growing yet and therefore not have a need to molt and shed their shells at this point in the season.
• If they were shed shells and not dead crabs, there is still some hope. If not, local crabbers will be working hard for their catch. Bob Sampson Jr.