remrug
Ultimate Member
Maybe....Tuck Hines published a paper over a decade ago comparing the amount of sperm in blue crabs in heavily harvested areas ( MD) vs less heavily harvested areas.
Turns out, males crabs here, are WAY lower. They grab a female, spawn, and on to the next one.
Unfortunately, tie up another female BEFORE they recharge.
So, functionally, shooting blanks.
So that pairing is low/ no yield, and that females reproductive potential wasted as well.
So shortage of males available to spawn, successfully, may be more of an issue than the over harvest of females.
Never heard much about it since publication.
But having less females to make a better spawn and lead to a higher population seems flawed to me.