Maryland's crab supply is sinking under the Trump administration's visa lottery

Maryland blue crabs.
(Image credit: ROD LAMKEY JR/AFP/Getty Images)

Crab may soon scuttle off the menu.

Changes to visa procedures mean nearly half of crab houses on the East Coast don't have enough workers to pick meat, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday.

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"It looks like it's a matter of time before they're going to shut all of us down," one seafood company owner told the Sun.

Prices for picked crab meat could skyrocket, per the Sun, but that could lead to more steamed whole crabs in the market and actually lower their prices. Read more about what many crab house owners say are the harshest circumstances they've ever faced at The Baltimore Sun.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.