Maryland Department of Agriculture issued the following announcement on April 19.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture’s seafood marketing program has partnered with Maryland Public Television to produce Maryland Crabs: Tradition & Taste, a half-hour documentary on Maryland’s iconic blue crab and seafood industry. The film will premiere on MPT April 22 at 9:30 p.m. This original production is part of MPT’s 15th Annual Chesapeake Bay Week programming.
The production focuses on a number of issues facing the industry, most notably the uncertainty of the federal H-2B guest worker program. Maryland’s crab processing houses rely heavily on guest workers to pick crabs. In 2018, changes to the H-2B visa program left many Maryland crab houses without pickers, causing many to remain closed for the season.
In an effort to make up for lost income, the Board of Public Works approved a Governor Hogan administration initiative to provide $375,000 from the state’s contingent fund to the department’s seafood marketing program. This funding was put toward a marketing campaign aimed at encouraging more sales and enhancing market opportunities for Maryland blue crab producers. The department put $111,300 of those funds into the production of Maryland Crabs: Tradition & Taste.
From MPT:
People love to eat crabs, and watermen are happy to catch and sell them. An entire industry grew out of this relationship between fisher and eater, one that’s an economic engine for locals who work the water, and for the others who earn a living from its crab bounty. But times are changing. Facing unexpected challenges, the blue crab industry is tentative as it looks to the future. While water-men and -women are working trotlines and pulling crab pots to processing houses dotting the banks of the bay, uncertainty is today’s watchword for an industry that works largely out of the public eye. From labor shortages to crab harvest declines, international competition, and water quality issues, this half-hour MPT film illustrates the challenges facing individuals who work on the water.
Click here to view the trailer for Maryland Crabs: Tradition & Taste
MPT’s annual Chesapeake Bay Week is a unique broadcasting initiative and part of the statewide public TV network’s ongoing commitment to celebrating the bay and examining critical issues faced by communities throughout the Chesapeake region.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Maryland Department of Agriculture
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