Integrating local ecological knowledge in the blue crab fishery into political design to protect ecosystem function and resilience

Background/Question/Methods

                Blue crab fisheries represent a large part of the culture of the mid-Atlantic states and an important economic opportunity.  However, recent slow progress of the Chesapeake Bay Program and similar but smaller programs elsewhere has made the fact that the blue crab population is not stable one for the newspapers.  Years of species-based management have yielded to more ecosystem-based goals, but the population has only slightly recovered.  Residents of coastal areas, especially the fisherfolk, have many opinions and policy recommendations for the blue crab fishery with the end goal of restoring ecosystem function and resilience; the success of the blue crabs will follow.  Through interviews and focus groups, they implicate water quality as the main threat, especially with respect to terrestrially-sourced synthetic chemicals such as pesticides and endocrine disruptors.  This study investigates these citizen perceptions and determines the effects that political structure and explicit management policies have on the health and stability of the blue crab fishery as well as ecosystem processing in the estuary. 

Results/Conclusions

Blue crabs are used as a model of an economically important species but also as indicators of the health of the overall estuarine system.  The piecemeal nature of governance in the blue crab fishery has left the door open to threats that essentially fall between the cracks between various agencies.  Threats that are not covered by any particular governing body (NOAA, EPA, local health departments, etc) include chemicals with interacting effects, metabolites of pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and atmospheric deposition of heavy metals from industry.  Local citizen and fisher knowledge provides insight to a more integrated and comprehensive management plan through specific local knowledge of both the fishery and the culture of the region that are important to effective management.