Blue Crab Farming on Maryland's Eastern Shore

Abstract

Biologists speculate that a combination of pollution and overharvesting might soon lead to the extinction of the blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay. This project investigates inland crab farming as a means by which to resurrect the region's dwindling blue crab industry and alleviate pressure on rapidly declining wild fisheries. Although the project transplants the blue crab onto land, it minimizes the impact to the plants and animals displaced. In short, the project asks us to rethink how we fish and how we farm and how they relate. The architectural proposal seeks to establish the general parameters of a heretofore untried blue crab farming operation and to apply these rules to a specific farm project in Dorchester County, Maryland. The final product consists of a series of greenhoused raceways, constructed wetlands, working meadows, a laboratory for rearing crab eggs to juvenile development, a picking/processing facility, restaurant, and modest educational facilities.