1.       Environmental Conditions. On page 8 of the report it is stated: “Success of management efforts can be complicated by variability in environmental conditions. Ongoing losses in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) that serves as primary nursery areas for juvenile crabs and reduction of oyster reefs that provide food and refuge for age 1+ crabs evidently impede the growth of this stock.  VIMS indicates there is evidence of high mortality rates of juvenile crabs tied to the loss of SAV, and this loss has a direct impact on recruitment to age 1+ .  The extent of predation on blue crabs by predators such as striped bass, red drum, and Atlantic croaker is unknown. Another form of natural mortality, cannibalism, is well documented for blue crab, but like predation, it is not known whether the removal of crabs by cannibalism is enhanced or diminished, under low crab stock conditions.