Abstract
In 1971 and 1972, a field sampling study was conducted in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and adjacent waters in order to describe the blue crab population inhabiting the region and also to assess the significance of the Canal as an avenue for recruitment from the Delaware Bay spawning grounds to the upper Chesapeake Bay.
Field sampling consisted of simultaneous towing of a 25 ft. otter trawl, with tickler chain attached, and a 42 in. wide, lined oyster dredge.
The catch of all sizes of crabs was seasonal: in winter and early spring the catch was close to zero; by mid-summer, crabs had re-inhabited the region. Catch densities were higher on the Chesapeake Bay side of the Canal than on the Delaware Bay side, Catch densities in the Canal region were much lower than in Tangier Sound, Md., even though the regions are equidistant from spawning grounds in the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays respectively.
The population inhabiting the Canal region during the summer consists mostly of juvenile crabs and is predominated by males.
The Canal seems of little significance as an avenue for recruitment of blue crabs to the upper Chesapeake Bay.
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Contribution No. 599, Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, University of Maryland.
This project was supported by Contract No. DACW61-71-C-0062 U.S. Army Engineers, Phila. District.
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Miller, R.E., Sulkin, S.D. & Lippson, R.L. Composition and seasonal abundance of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus rathbun, in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and adjacent waters. Chesapeake Science 16, 27–31 (1975). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351081
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1351081