Maryland crab watermen hope higher tariffs will aid their struggling industry

State Roundup: Tariffs, labor shortage threaten crab industry; officials warn that many Marylanders on Medicaid could lose coverage

TARIFFS, LABOR SHORTAGES THREATEN CRAB INDUSTRY: Maryland’s crab processors have become their own endangered species. In the 1980s, there were more than 50 throughout the state; now there are less than 15 in operation. Labor shortages, overfishing in the Chesapeake Bay and imports of cheaper crabs from Venezuela have priced century-old companies out of business. In early May, the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association sent a letter to Pre…

Maryland crab watermen hope higher tariffs will aid their struggling industry

Jack Brooks’ family has been in the Maryland blue crab business on the Eastern Shore since 1890, running what they say is the oldest working crab-processing plant in the world. But even as he hands off the business to his son, Brooks said he isn’t sure how much longer they can hang on. “There may be one or two survivors, but I don’t think this will be one of them,” Brooks said of the crab industry near his plant in Cambridge, Maryland. “One hund…