Cooperative Living June 2015 - 16

Clockwise, from
top left: Capt. Danny Crabbe;
Glen Markwith; Chesapeake Bay
oysters; Scott Markwith with a nice
Chesapeake Bay striped bass;
a working waterman's boat;
Rappahannock Community
College's Jason Perry.
Captain Danny Crabbe, an affable
third-generation waterman who grew up
in Ophelia in Northumberland County
near Reedville, is adding heritage tours to
the charter-fishing-boat business he's
operated since 1973. He also owns Fat'n
Happy Oyster Company, an oyster aquaculture
business with oysters grown in
300 cages on 40 acres of leased bottom in
the Little Wicomico River.
After working several jobs in the " big
city " of Richmond post-high school,
Crabbe says he " had enough " of city life.
He came home and worked with his
father before buying his first fishing boat.
" Sometimes you think you're gonna
get rich and you don't. If you think you're
going to starve, if you keep working, you
won't, " he says.
Crabbe's 43-foot fiberglass deadrise
KIT II can carry as many as 28 passengers
for fishing or custom cruises on Potomac
River, Chesapeake Bay and coastal
14
Atlantic waters. A new 16-foot-by-40-foot
working platform pontoon boat allows
visitors to experience oyster operations.
" I feel like the heritage program is a
positive thing to keep our watermen's heritage
alive, " Crabbe, 69, says. " The
Chesapeake Bay is cleaner and getting
better. When I was 7 or 8 you'd see cans
and bottles [floating in the water]. Seldom
do you see that now. I think people are
doing their part [to help]. "
He adds, " It's fun showing people how
a peeler crab turns into a soft-shell crab.
It's fun to see someone from California
who's read about the Chesapeake Bay see
it, or watch a child catch their first fish. "
Program coordinator Glenn Markwith,
who grew up in Colonial Beach in
Westmoreland County and is the son of a
retired waterman, calls captains like
Crabbe " poster children for this program. "
" It takes a certain kind of personality
[to do tours], " he admits. " Twenty people
have been trained and five are starting out
with us this year. We're satisfied to grow
the program slowly. "
Jason Perry, vice-president for workforce
development with Rappahannock
Community College, where training
classes for the new program are held,
notes, " The program is in its infancy but
we already have a waiting list [of other
captains] who want to participate in the
next round of classes. "
He adds, " Watermen can not only
supplement their income, they can be
champions in terms of sharing information
about the ecology, marine environment
and local heritage of an area. "
Smith believes as watermen see other
watermen doing well with heritage tours,
more will want to participate.
Captain David Rowe of Lottsburg in
Northumberland County grew up in
Lewisetta, a small island-like cluster of
homes on the Potomac River. He began
Cooperative Living/June 2015
Cooperative Living June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living June 2015
