Crabbers preparing next generation at Miller’s Island Crab camp

By Theo Hayes

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    SPARROWS POINT, Maryland (WBAL) — A Sparrows Point restaurant is giving kids hands-on training in the industry it loves.

Half of the total blue crab harvest in the United States comes from the Chesapeake Bay.

So, at the Miller’s Island Crab Camp, there are four stations where kids learn to make crab pots, tie finger lines to chicken necks to catch crabs, pick out the best crabs and properly prepare crabs for the dinner table.

“We originally mentioned it on the local Facebook page thinking we’d have one and hopefully get a good response to it. But we had a tremendous response and it just continued to blow up,” said John McAvoy, owner of Dock of the Bay restaurant.

McAvoy and his partner, Ryan Williams, started thinking about creating this camp last winter. McAvoy owns the Dock of the Bay restaurant and Williams owns Skeets Crab. They grew up by the water and Williams is a crabber by profession. The two coming together to teach kids about Maryland’s nearly $50 million-a-year industry just made sense.

“With our location here at the bay, with us having the relationship with Skeet and his crab boat, it’s something that is unique to the Baltimore area,” McAvoy said.

Zoey and Connor, Williams’ children, attended the first camp last week and are ecstatic to help teach other kids the craft.

“Personally, I like sizing them, seeing all the big crabs and the little crabs and stuff,” Zoey Williams said.

“(What’s) difficult would probably be pulling up the crab pots and trying not to get pinched,” Connor Williams said.

At last week’s camp, the kids had a blast, partaking in more than just crabbing. At one point, they decided to race the crabs they had just caught to see whose was faster.

The camp runs once a month and there is still room for more kids for the next session on July 11. The camp is $50 per child and after the day is done families join their campers for a crab pot feast.

“I think the best part was at the crab feast with their parents and seeing the kids talk to their parents about the crab or being out on the boat,” McAvoy said.

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