Virginia fishery regulators unanimously approved measures limiting the harvest of the Chesapeake Bay’s dwindling blue crab population this year in an effort to preserve the species.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission on Tuesday cited a 70 percent drop in the crab population since 1991 as proof of a “serious problem” in the Bay, said commission spokesman John Bull.

The decision, which will affect Virginia’s crabbing season that starts March 17, came despite strong objections from the state’s commercial watermen, who argue that the reduced crab population is a result of pollution and other environmental issues, not overfishing.

“The only thing we can do immediately is to limit the number of crabs that are taken out,” said Bull, who agreed that environmental causes play a role.

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The commission voted to require that escape hatches be opened on crab pots so that smaller crabs — especially females — can be freed and can spawn. A female blue crab can produce up to 8 million eggs in one mating season.

The panel also approved a cap on the number of people authorized to work watermen’s crab pots, an increase in the minimum size of peeler crabs — which are used for soft shell crabs — and a cap in the number of watermen allowed to work the winter crab dredge season.

Maryland also is grappling with stricter crabbing restrictions, and the two states have been discussing joint strategies.

The commission plans to meet again in late April to hear watermen’s concerns and propose further restrictions, including restricting recreational crab licenses, closing the winter dredging season and increasing the minimum size of crabs allowed to be caught.

“You can look at it various different ways, and we have expressed a lot of environmental concerns, but they’ve mostly been overlooked,” said C.D. Hancock, president of the Coastal Virginia Waterman’s Association. “We just don’t have a big voice, so what we say is kind of like the guy standing in the middle of the Super Bowl hollering at one end, trying to reach the other end.”

As for the cost of crabs, Hancock said he doesn’t expect prices to rise. Imported crabs keep the prices paid for Chesapeake crabs down, Hancock said.

William Lowery, part owner of Lowery’s Seafood Restaurant in Tappahannock, said he hopes the restrictions don’t lead to higher prices.

“Right now, with all the other things going on, with gas prices and the housing situation, I don’t think this particular part of the world needs [increased crab prices] right now,” he said.