Maryland’s lawmakers are seeking $15 million in federal disaster funds to ease the financial burden on watermen facing strict limits on crab harvesting.

Gov. Martin O’Malley sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asking for a disaster declaration, which would allow the state to leverage federal money to fund jobs for watermen, such as restoring Bay habitats, to help rebuild the crab population.

“We want to make sure we do all in our power to protect our watermen,” O’Malley said Friday at a news conference on the waterfront in Fells Point.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who is chairwoman of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Commerce Department, is asking for an “expedited decision” on the request. Mikulski and U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., also sent a letter Friday to Gutierrez endorsing the request.

“We are very optimistic we will get our designation,” Mikulski said.

“We will be using our muscle.”

Lawmakers expect an answer within the next few weeks. Meanwhile Mikulski will be looking for funding to include in the upcoming emergency supplemental spending bill.

The designation also would make watermen eligible for small-business and economic development grants.

The recent blue crab emergency regulations aimed at reducing the female blue crab harvest by 34 percent will cost Maryland’s watermen about $15 million during the next three years, Mikulski said.

The General Assembly set aside $3 million in state capital funding to employ watermen in restoration and conservation jobs, such as rebuilding oyster reefs.

Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, lauded the push for federal funds, saying the money will make the regulations more bearable.

Some watermen initially rejected the idea of financial assistance, but looking at the regulations, they realized they needed the help, Simns said at the news conference.

“They want to work for the money,” he said, adding the details of the work still needed to be worked out.

Maryland’s watermen have received assistance in the past, such as during a striped bass moratorium when watermen were paid to take scientists out on the water, Simns said.

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com