Virginia is looking to spend some of its $10 million in federal disaster aid to buy back licenses from watermen who would volunteer to no longer catch blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay.
The idea is part of a plan described by state officials to restore crab stocks in the Bay. The money is being made available this year after the U.S. Commerce Department declared the crab fishery a federal disaster.
Virginia also is using state funds that is expected to be reimbursed next year to pay more than 50 watermen to trawl the Bay in search of abandoned traps that still catch and kill crabs.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
