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The importing of asian crabs is putting a strain on Maryland watermen and local companies who process crabs from the Atlantic    VIDEO Jonathan Aiken reports on the rise of Asian crabs imported into the U.S. market. Windows Media 28K 80K

September 29, 1999
Web posted at: 4:36 p.m. EDT (2036 GMT)

NORTH BEACH, Maryland (CNN) -- Crab cakes are a Maryland tradition that have helped to sustain a way of life for generations of Chesapeake Bay watermen and their families.

But the crab cake has become something of a political and emotional issue in Maryland. The controversy surrounds crabcakes made of crab from Asia and not from the Maryland blue crab or its Atlantic cousin.

"The import of crab meat is a real phenomenon that's growing and has a tremendous impact that's going to happen for a long time for this industry," said maritime economist Dr. Doug Lipton of the University of Maryland.

The domestic catch, mostly blue crabs caught from New York to Louisiana, have lost much of their market in the last five years. Domestic crabs made up 56 percent of U.S. sales in 1994, but less than 33 percent in 1998. Asian crab imports, however, are on the rise, up 78 percent in 1998 alone.

Phillips Foods, a family-run, Baltimore-based business, has been linked to the Chesapeake Bay and its bounty for generations through nine restaurants.

Crab cakes are a Maryland tradition

Phillips is now a leading importer and processor of Asian crab meat, employing 12,000 people at eight processing plants in Indonesia, the Philippines and Sumatra.

Other processors, forced to compete with the consistent supply of lower-priced imports, are reducing what they pay watermen for their catch.

"When we have a scarcity, and they're putting crabmeat on the market, our scarcity doesn't reflect in the price. We're still going to get a cheap price," said crabber Tommy Lawson.

Phillips says the industry is a victim of its own reluctance to change.

Tradition runs deep on the Chesapeake. Crab pickers still sing the Lord's prayer every morning, hoping the watermen have a good day. But it seems tradition is no match for the realities of late 20th century economics.