Maryland (Map, News) - The governors of Maryland and Virginia are seeking federal disaster funds to ease the financial burden on watermen facing strict limits on crab harvesting.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia Gov. Tim. Kaine sent letters to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asking for a Fishery Resource Disaster declaration, which would allow the states to leverage federal money to fund jobs for watermen, such as restoring Chesapeake Bay habitats, to help rebuild the crab population.

"The blue crab fishery is in dire straits and our watermen are enduring serious hardship," Kaine said.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who is chairwoman of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Commerce Department, said she is asking for an "expedited decision" on Maryland's request of $15 million. Mikulski and U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., sent a letter Friday to Gutierrez endorsing the request.

"We want to make sure we do all in our power to protect our watermen," O'Malley said at a news conference on the Fells Point waterfront in Baltimore.

Lawmakers expect an answer within the next few weeks.

The designation would make the states' 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 are expected to cost watermen between $11 million and $15 million during the next three years.

The Bay's crab population has dropped 70 percent in 15 years, and Virginia watermen last year harvested only half the crabs of 10 years ago, Kaine said in his letter to Gutierrez.

Maryland is planning to end the commercial female harvest Oct. 23, earlier than in past years, and put females off-limits completely to recreational crabbers.

Virginia fisheries regulators abolished winter dredging of hibernating crabs and closed the season for female crabs a month early, among other measures.

The dwindling crab population has been attributed to pollution, environmental damage and rising Chesapeake Bay temperatures as well as overfishing.

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 moratorium on striped bass, or rockfish, when watermen were paid to take scientists out on the water, Simns said.

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com