Eric Hartley:Will saving the crabs doom the crabbers?

On the day politicians debated the fate of his livelihood, John Van Alstine went to work.

Snaking his 40-foot workboat, Patricia Anne, out of the shallows of south county's Schoolhouse Creek at 6 a.m. on Thursday, he motored out into the West River and the Chesapeake Bay. It was overcast and breezy, a typical day in what's been a cold, wet spring - potentially bad news for this voyage.

"Don't expect to see a lot of crabs," Mr. Van Alstine, 41, told me with a wry smile.

They like the water warmer. Crab season started April 1 by law, but few watermen begin that early, waiting until it heats...