- The annual winter dredge survey run by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science estimates 349 million blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay, a 46% rise on last year and the highest figure since 2019..
- Juvenile crabs were estimated at 228 million for winter 2025-26, also the highest since 2019, which is what the next few seasons are built on.
- Separate assessment work found no overfishing in the bay, and Maryland reported that underwater grasses in its waters expanded by nearly 13% in a single year.
Chesapeake blue crab numbers have jumped 46% in a year to an estimated 349 million, the highest count since 2019, and the underwater grass the young ones grow up in is coming back too.
The Chesapeake is the largest estuary in the United States, running 200 miles from Maryland down into Virginia and supporting more than 3,600 plant and animal species.
Blue crab numbers there had been low for long enough that this year’s field sampling counts as a genuine turn, and the survey put the total population at 349 million.
The juvenile figure matters more than the headline one, and at 228 million for winter 2025-26 it is also the highest since 2019.
The survey is run jointly each year by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Warming water is part of the pressure on the crabs, with the bay’s surface temperature up 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 30 years, and colder winters and hotter summers both take a toll.
Invasive blue catfish, introduced in the 1970s for recreational fishing, are another, because they hunt and dig up dormant crabs year-round.
The catch limits set by Maryland and Virginia appear to be holding, and separate work in the 2026 Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Assessment and Advisory report found no overfishing in the bay.
The other number landed from Maryland in the same month, and underwater grass coverage in the state’s waters grew from 36,799 acres in 2024 to 41,419 in 2025, a rise of nearly 13% in a single year.
Bay-wide, seagrass reached an estimated 89,385 acres, up 7% on 2024.
Crab numbers swing hard from one year to the next, and a single strong survey is not the same thing as a recovery.
There are 349 million crabs in the bay, and 228 million of them are not fully grown yet.
