Crab Boils

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, are native to the western Atlantic, from New England to the Gulf coast of Florida—but nowhere are they more abundant, or more abundantly enjoyed, than in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay. Half of all the blue crabs caught in the United States are captured by Chesapeake watermen along its four thousand miles of shoreline. Since the 1850s watermen have harvested oysters in the winter months. The oyster catch is declining, but each year up to 100 million pounds of crabs are caught between April and fall.