Form confusion blamed for high crab harvest tally

ANNAPOLIS, MD – (AP) The head of Maryland's watermen's association says the overreporting of the female crab harvest by watermen was caused by confusion over how to fill out the forms.

Maryland natural resources officials reported Friday that the harvest was down about a third last year, a drop that followed moves to restrict the catch and rebuild the population.

The Department of Natural Resources said independent surveys were used for its estimate because of discrepancies in harvest reports from watermen and DNR surveys. The department said watermen appear to have over-reported the harvest after the state tied allowable catches to harvest history.

Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association, said watermen did not intend to deceive the state, but his group told watermen to also record crabs they had thrown back. Simns says the intent was to show the bay still has many crabs.

--- Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com