Chesapeake Play!
Designed by EcoKnow Games with EcoKnow Creator 1.0
The Situation
You are a waterman on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, working a livelihood that has supported families and communities for generations.
The Bay's iconic blue crab is your catch — but the population is fragile, and the rules around how you fish it are strict. Every season you face the same trade-off: play it safe with legal pots that respect the regulations, or risk it with cheaper illegal pots that could double your earnings... or wipe out your gear if a patrol boat finds them.
Ready to Play?
This scenario is hosted online — click below to launch it in your browser.
Over 8 rounds, with a starting budget of 12,000 credits, your goal is to earn 200,000 while keeping the blue crab population above 20,000 for at least 6 rounds.
What is a "Blue Crab"?
The Chesapeake blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is the bay's most iconic species and the foundation of Maryland's commercial fishery.
Crabs move through four life stages — megalopae, small, large, and adult. Legal pots only catch the larger stages, protecting young crabs so the population can recover. Illegal pots catch every life stage indiscriminately.
Each round you can buy pots, place them on tiles across the Bay, harvest crabs, and sell your catch.
Legal pots are expensive but carry no risk. Illegal pots are cheaper and catch more — but if a patrol boat finds even one on a tile, every pot on that tile is destroyed and your catch is confiscated.
Why This Matters
The blue crab fishery is a real-world balancing act between livelihood, regulation, and conservation. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources sets size limits, season dates, and pot regulations precisely because unchecked harvesting — especially of juveniles — can collapse the population for everyone.
This scenario is built on a real population model from Miller's 2001–2003 research, using Leslie matrix mathematics to simulate how blue crabs reproduce, survive, and transition between life stages in the Chesapeake Bay.
Further Reading
A collaboration between:
