A recent report has led to a shortened crabbing season for Chesapeake Bay watermen this year.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted 6-1 in a public hearing on Tuesday to close the crabbing season earlier this year compared to last year and reduce possession limits for watermen.

The vote was held after the Blue Crab Advisory Report was released on Monday, urging more risk-averse regulations. The report was developed by the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee with approval by the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation team.

“The annual Blue Crab Advisory Report provides valuable data analysis and recommendations to the agencies that manage crabs here in the Bay to help them make scientifically informed decisions regarding our beloved — and valuable — blue crabs,” Sean Corson, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Chesapeake Bay Office and Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team chair, said in the press release.

Since 1997, the committee has met annually to review Chesapeake Bay blue crab surveys, harvest data and give management advice for Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions. This includes Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission.

“The messaging in that report is a conglomeration of all the different groups working together to come up with an approach that we are comfortable with for the upcoming management season,” said Michael Luisi, assistant director for Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fishing and Boating Services.

The report includes data analysis from the annual, bay-wide winter dredge survey released on April 19. This showed a 31-percent increase in adult female crabs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed compared to last year’s survey, from 194 to 254 million.

The overall crab population, however, has decreased by about 18 percent, from 553 million in 2016 to 455 million in 2017. Juvenile crabs dropped from 271 million to 125 million in that same span, the fourth-lowest level ever recorded and just 20 million more than the lowest ever in 1992, according to the winter dredge survey.

Crab reproduction is vulnerable to fluctuations year to year, and juveniles are at the mercy of environmental changes, natural predators and other factors.

“The highly variable nature of blue crabs was on full display this past year,” Glenn Davis, chair of the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee and Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said in the press release. “The largest abundance of spawning females from the winter dredge survey time series was great news and demonstrated what can happen when jurisdictions adhere to science-based management.”

“The low recruitment served as a reminder that large inter-annual fluctuations can be part of the norm and that managing blue crabs is a continuous challenge.”

The VMRC will end the crabbing season Nov. 30 and reopen it on March 17, 2018, amounting to 16 fewer days than the season last year. Possession limits for crabbers will also be reduced this November.

“We think that the measures put in place will be more conservative for harvest removals, protecting the juvenile class coming through and preventing more removals,” said Joe Cimino, VMRC deputy chief of fisheries.

A public hearing will be held at the VMRC office at 2600 Washington Ave. in Newport News on July 25 to reaffirm the votes held in June, and to discuss changes to blue crab sanctuaries.