Prepare to shell out more for a bushel of crabs this year

CJ Canby, a lifelong crabber, understands the basic principles of running a business. To make money, you have to spend money.

This year, he’s spending much more than he has in previous seasons pulling crabs from the Chesapeake Bay so Marylanders can continue the summer ritual of hanging out, eating crustaceans and enjoying cold drinks.

Much like the feisty blue crab Canby held dangling in the air, the industry is hanging on despite the uncertainty of rising costs.

“Between electric bills, fuel, bait and everything else, costs add up tremendously for the season,” Canby said. “And that’ll never come down.”

Crabs are a Maryland staple, and like almost everything else, they’re costing more this year.

The U.S.-Iran conflict in the Middle East has pushed fuel prices up, making it costlier for crabbers to run their businesses and forcing them to pass on costs to consumers. Local crabbers say they’re seeing customers buy fewer or smaller crabs to save money. Alternatively, some are splitting a bushel with another family.

A bushel of live, heavy male crabs, meaning mixed sizes large or bigger, from Canby is running buyers about $260, some $10 more than last season, he said. Soft crabs are a dollar more each. A cheaper alternative is lightweight crabs for $150 a bushel.

Crab prices can fluctuate daily, but a bushel of steamed males, which have more meat than females, could run as much as $400. Nick’s Crab Market in Southwest Baltimore is currently selling a dozen large males for $95. Extra large males at Nick’s are going for $130 a dozen and jumbos $145 a dozen. Conrad’s Crabs in Parkville is selling a dozen large males for the same price. Extra large and jumbo prices are a bit steeper at $140 and $195 per dozen.

John Ecker, managing partner of Conrad’s Crabs, said the shop is paying about 20% more this season for crabs they buy from local watermen, in large part due to “horrendous” fuel bills for those crabbers’ boats. Both live and steamed crabs go for the same prices there, but smaller crabs sell for less.

Out on the bay for his daily excursion, Canby explained how much more he was shelling out to cover essential business costs. One pot at a time, one could get a glimpse of how all the incremental increases were adding up.

Miss Paula, the boat he uses, requires about 15 gallons a day. That fuel is now costing Canby an extra dollar a gallon a day, and he typically relies on her 150 days a year between May and November.

Larger vessels run on 45 to 50 gallons of diesel daily.

The spike in fuel prices also means the cost of bait, typically shrimp heads, has gone up since everyone is paying more to keep boats on the water.

He is now also spending an extra $20 a pallet on shipping costs for crabs since gas prices have gone up.

That all comes on top of the rising utility costs, causing him to shell out an extra $100 each month to store crabs in tanks and freezers at home, and the money it takes for Miss Paula’s upkeep.

All in, those supply and demand costs have pushed up the asking price for crabs.

The season has the potential to be great, as there are lots and lots of crabs to be had, he said, but it depends on the economy and how much further people are stretched.

“Being in Maryland, you’ve got to eat crab,” he said. “But you can limit how much.”

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has seen an increase in the blue crab population in the Chesapeake Bay this year.

Mandy Bromilow, the department’s blue crab program manager, said the number of juvenile crabs grew about 120%. She also documented a roughly 40% uptick in adult males alongside a slight decline in adult females.

“We’re optimistic about where the population is heading, hopefully in the right direction, and it continues to trend upward,” she said.

Joyce and Dennis Harrington, a retired couple, have been eating crabs since they were children. They buy at least a dozen every week. As they waited for 18 steamed crabs at Conrad’s on Tuesday, Joyce Harrington said they look for specials to avoid high prices.

“We used to get a whole bag of crabs for what one costs today,” Joyce said.

A few feet away, Mia Johnson was about to place her usual order. Johnson buys a dozen steamed crabs every other week and has no intention of stopping, regardless of prices.

“I’ll never stop buying crabs,” she said.