212 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



TABLE 4 

 Production and Value of Blue Crabs in North Carolina, 1887- 1945 



* Hard and soft crabs not separated. 



An outstanding characteristic of the crab fishery in North Carolina has 

 been close relationship with, and dependence until recent years upon, the 

 older established industry in Chesapeake Bay. Each year, in March and 

 April, before crabs readily seek the bait in Chesapeake Bay, it has been 

 the practice of packers in Maryland and Virginia to buy nearly the entire 

 production of hard crabs in Carteret County, These crabs are trucked alive 

 to processing plants on Chesapeake Bay. Likewise, in late summer and fall, 

 large exports of crabs from Dare and Currituck counties are sent to the 

 Chesapeake region to augment the local supply, especially during periods 

 of scarcity. Production of soft crabs in Carteret County is stimulated in 

 large measure by the Chesapeake Bay packers. 



There is an inverse correlation between the annual catch of crabs in Ches- 

 apeake Bay and in North Carolina according to comparable statistics from 

 1929 to 1942. Data in Table 5 indicate that years of low production in Ches- 

 apeake Bay, such as prevailed in 1934, i94i> and 1942 (due largely to 



