The Chesapeake Bay blue crab population is enjoying a revival, with an increase of about 60 percent since last year and its highest rate since 1997.  This has been welcome news for the watermen, crab-lovers, environmentalists and politicians.

But at least one expert cautioned that the comeback should not be seen as a sign that the bay’s water quality is being restored; he insists that it is the result of good fisheries management.

“Getting blue crabs numbers up has nothing to do with saving the Bay,” James Price, the head of the Chesapeake Bay Ecological Foundation, told News21. “It has to do with blue crab management.” Price believes the Bay will never be brought back to its glory days.

Correct management of other crucial fisheries, such as the depleted oyster population, should have been similarly introduced years ago, Price said.

“The Chesapeake Bay Foundation should have argued for moratorium on oysters years ago – but they never have,” stated Price. Now, he believes, it may be too late to save the oysters, as the delicate habitats they depend on for their survival have been destroyed.