Since 1999, we have tagged mature female blue crabs in both the upper and lower Chesapeake Bay to examine the timing and route of the female migration to the lower Bay spawning grounds. However, this past year we began to tag legal-sized male and female blue crabs in the Rhode River to estimate population size. 

2005 Crab Tag Lottery Winners

Brad Kappel of Edgewater, Maryland has been crabbing since he was a boy. He first started by scouring the local piers with a dipnet, then learned to chickeneck, and also has worked with his uncle, a commercial crabber. This August, Brad caught two tagged crabs off his community pier at Edgewater Beach near the mouth of Beards Creek in the South River. Both of these crabs traveled from the Rhode River into the Bay proper and then approximately 6.5 miles up the South River. When asked about his thoughts concerning winning the Crab Tag Lottery, Brad was happy to report that even after purchasing crabbing supplies he still made tidy profit.

Buddy Thorne of West River, MD has been commercial crabbing since the early 70s. He currently crabs around the Rhode River area in his 40' bay-built workboat, "Miss Pam." This year Buddy caught several dozen tagged blue crabs, including a high-reward tag. Several years ago he caught a blue crab with an ultrasonic transmitter and he still tells friends and family about catching an "Inspector Gadget crab." Buddy hopes the data he reported will help the blue crab and bolster our knowledge of this important resource.